Hooray! Another post!

Hello hello, How are we all today?

I am not sure what to focus on in this post, I have had a few days in a row of work broken up by one day where I slept for 16 hours, so I feel like most of my mind hasn't left work since this evening.

Other than work I am thinking of getting a bicycle, that is a thing. I have a bicycle but it is... kinda older than I am. I am also concerned over the very thin tires + Large lady + Old worn out country roads with no footpaths combo that I have going on. There is also one shop in the town I live in that sells bikes and I have a feeling that they are more aimed towards kids. Gonna suss that shop out tomorrow I think~

Nursing? 

Work has been going fine, just really busy. We have had some people in assessing us against different criteria that show that us, as a Aged Care Facility, are effectively and safely providing care to Care Recipients following the Age Care Act 1997 using the money provided via government funding. And yes, they are called "Care Recipients" now for the term "Resident" is not politically correct enough.

Bad news was that because I sat and talked with them I ran late on some duties and missed out on a morning cuppa, ending up having my first meal of the day at 1330. My dietitian would not be pleased.

So that has been... interesting. I can't say much but I can say that those who did the assessing where really nice and open to any stupid questions I asked. In the end the assessment does come down to how effectively we are caring for people in the sense that we are using funding in the right ways. Some of the assessors can be quite picky I hear, the ones that I saw were doing their job.

Luckily, because my workplace is rather good at this, while there will always be pressure coming from management to say the right thing for the best result, pointing out the flaws that we have to these people isn't going to change the way I am treated at work. Wonderful!

Through this experience though it has allowed me to see how disconnected between management and it's staff within medical areas can have drastic consequences on peoples health. For example. a case in England revolving a Mid Staffordshire National Health Service (NHS) Trust. This issue came about when it was noticed that this hospital had much higher mortality rates. The public outcry from the families was growing and while it was beginning to come to light the hospital was given "Trust" status, a status (and benefit) given to hospitals that have been recognized as providing a higher quality of care.

So on the floor, reports were that patients were left in soiled beds and dirty pans left in shared toilets. It was even to the point where some nurses reported that medications weren't being given to patients because they were cutting costs. The concerns and fears of the workers not being recognized by management can end up drastically effecting the care given. The case is starting to come full circle with those responsible for not following their role leading to these drastic issues have been punished. The Director of Nursing during this time has been taken of the register and is no longer permitted to nurse in the UK and the decision has been made for the Trust to be dissolved.

Again, my workplace does it's work pretty well and it has been reflected by their assessment. Woohoo!


Video Games?

So I recently bought a Yoshi Wii Controller (YEAH YOSHI) so that I may play Just Dance 4. Although I thought I would whack my hand on the furniture around my small lounge area, I did not. I did however, become very out of breath after about 2 songs. Exerciseeeee

Art?

This week has been a week of spending. I bought a tablet off of a friend the other day. A Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 to be exact. I know she was trying to get rid of it but the price we agreed on was only... a few hundred less than what you would buy it for <_<

Main reason I got it was because it has a version of photoshop on it, I felt it might be a nice thing to try out. Has been pretty useful overall though. I haven't made much with it that I feel like sharing at the moment, touch screens are hard.

What song have you got stuck in your head?

Till next time~

Havra

Crazy new chapter

I hope you all lovely readers had an amazing Christmas this year!

My favorite Christmas gift has to be a nursing graduate year opportunity that I leapt at. I am so excited!!

Like, this excited. 

So on the 21st day of Christmas I got a call from a dear friend of mine who went to sign some paperwork in the country hospital she has a graduate job at and she was told to tell her friends that there were some positions available around the area. I contacted them that day and was given a number to call of an aged care facility the next town. I called them the very next day and thanks to my wonderful family I drove down there on the 23rd for an interview... of sorts. They seemed pretty keen to have me, that might have also been due to fact that the program starts at the beginning of February. I left that day with a uniform to take home so I feel that was the best interviews I have ever been to.

Long story short, in 2 days I went from depressed and unsure of what I was going to do. To having 1 month to move 5 hours away from home for a graduate job. Eek!! Feeling the stress at the moment that is for sure. Both excited and terrified.

Ahhhhh. Like that. 

So this will be my first time moving out and I need to find a place to live, get a car loan to buy a car, buy a fridge, you know, all of these adult things that I didn't really expect to be doing so soon!

The program is mainly based in aged care, something that has a little bit of a social stigma around it. Many nurses I have encountered refer to it as the "nurses graveyard where your clinical skills go to die". This doesn't really seem to be the case though, sure the RN's in a nursing home look like they give out medications and do paperwork but that paperwork is what is bringing the money into the home.

I feel this might be linked to the issue in health care that everyone working there has to have a 'rank'. You know, doctors over nurses, nurses over carers sort of thing. It is a little bit of bullshit though, everyone is working together for the same goal, to improve the patients health. They have different roles and having one without the other means that the job is not going to get done. Might as well be playing surgeon simulator if you wanna pull that rank shit.

No Doctor, you are doing a great job.

So this is a crazy new chapter in my life, I am really looking forward to time alone doing what I want and living under my own terms. Naturally though, I have my doubts. All I can do is have faith in my own abilities to survive and it will all work out, right?

I feel I might be updating this blog some more as I progress through this year! Not only because I have plans for my art with all the alone time I will be getting, but because writing it here helps me put sense to how I feel about it all. It also makes me happy to feel like I am sending my small message in a bottle of my feelings and that on occasion, people are reading it.

Wish me luck guys!

Havra