Progress Update

Fortunately we've been given an extra week to finish the special project. It took me the best part of last night to finish the front page and I was too tired to get anything done this evening.

In other news it's gay pride in Glasgow tomorrow! I'll take some pictures and post them when and if I manage to come home.

Best Idea Ever

I have come up with the best idea ever for one of the projects we are doing. Of course there are a few drawbacks to this plan.

Task - Educate your peers on a subject you've studied in depth. You can use Powerpoint, tutorials, written hand-outs, etc.

Method Chosen - (here's the brilliant part!) Comic. I'm thinking maybe about 2 pages, A4 portrait size on A3 pages, double-sided, folded in half... which means I would have 8 pages to play with. The back page would be the references of course.

Subject - Well this is where it goes a bit off... what I could write about - The Long Term Complications of Quadriplegia. Nice, probably what they are looking for but doesn't lend itself to comic. This is something I have studied in depth and I could write about... in fact I have written 3 pages on it so I wouldn't have to do it.

So where does this leave me on a subject? Well I've had another thought...

Pros - No-one else will have thought of this
It will educate people on an area that is rarely covered
It will look brilliant when I'm finished

Cons - Only I could do something like this so people will know it's me
It might not be what they are looking for (I do have the fall back idea at least) (they have given us free reign though)

So what is it? The Needs of LGBT Patients
Cool? Pure Utter Genius! It's unique (not a single lecturer has mentioned it) and I'm not doing it as a piggin' Powerpoint presentation!

Pure Rage and Pure Disrespect

We got out the final assignments today! Which would have been good... I put in for orthopedic trauma for my final placement. I love broken bones and the like. Stupidly thinking I'd get it.

Most people didn't get what they really wanted. This is a cracking indicator of how the day was going down the pan already. The person who got my ward rubbed salt in my wounds before I got mine. Then I got my placement...

Gynecology - I don't have a problem with gyne, it's an interesting field. If it hadn't been for the 'isn't that a lesbian's dream' - type comment I would have kept it. OK I find that offensive. Why would I think that about my patients? Would a straight female nurse (or a gay male nurse) go on to a urology ward and think something like that? No and no one would suggest it, well they might as a joke. It didn't come across to me as a joke.

I spent all afternoon shaking literally. I went to the head of the year after class and told her what was said. Can't suffer the snickering for the next 6 months. The risk of coming out while I'm working would be exceptionally harmful too, especially if someone on the ward thinks along the same line. I never actually asked to move placement but that's what happened. Stroke rehabilitation - I can do that and it isn't too far away from spinal injury rehab... well closer than gyne anyway.

Did I blow it out of proportion? I'm still hurt by that remark and still shaking inside.

The Green Eyed Monster

When being a little bored I looked at my site stats for how people are getting to this blog. I get lots from the lovely people that link to me from their blogs but it's the search engines that fascinate me.
Recently it has been the 'Hospital Corner?' post inspiring people (15 people to date). I suppose I could have done a step by step on how to do a hospital corner but that would have been to easy and I'm not writing a textbook here.

The classic from a couple of days ago was 'nurses jealous of doctors'. I've never written a post on the possibility of nurses being jealous of doctors' positions. What they arrived at was part of my Doctors and Nurses collection (if you remember they were posts on me and the doctor at one of my placements, here's parts one, two and three for those that forget).

So am I jealous of doctors? Nope I don't want their job. I want to be a nurse.

Stop Changing the Plan

Let's assume you're on a course... it doesn't have to be nursing, and then the powers that be start to 'fiddle' with it.

Things that work are switched for things that don't. Leaving anyone with an ounce of common sense wondering how they got positions of power in the first place. Truth is the more of an idiot you are the more likely you are to become a manager.

They keep implementing these changes without a second thought as to what it's doing to the students at the other end. Humph twats!

Sheep.

Nothing like jumping on the communal band-wagon --->
I've had a haircut and when straightened it actually looks a lot like that. Without straighteners it looks like a bird's nest.

Anyway I've done nothing but read news on the net and watch the rain fall. All in all a very uneventful day. I don't even have anything to rant about, unless someone starts singing 'I kissed a girl' by Katy Perry.

Anyone think she's just out to annoy her parents? They are both pastors after all and they have said they don't like what she's doing. She's no more gay than I am straight. Now I've heard several stories along the lines of "when I was younger / drunk / questioning / combination of the above" and what brings up the red flag for me has to be the 'chapstick' line. Question how old was she when the alleged incident occurred? Because either she was very young (considering she's 23 now) OR it's one heck of a stereotypical image of a lesbian (use of which I would consider offensive). Or, you know, it never actually happened.

Lesbian magazine Diva's editor, Jane Czyzselska, says she's not homophobic but maybe just naive. Well OK I can buy into that, if her first song hadn't been called 'UR So Gay'. Aimed at her last boyfriend, 'UR So Gay' was basically a list of his failures and shortcomings. Use of the word gay to mean lame is considered to be un-politically correct. Not that it would make much difference to me but come on she has issues and she needs to deal with them without putting that pish on a CD.

Well I didn't mean that to turn into a rant...

Changes

I've decided to split the Goldfish posts from this blog to one of their own. So if you wish to hear me drone on about my favourite pets muscle on over to The Goldfish Diaries (yes, yes it's also hosted by Blogger).

And if you don't, you for some reason enjoy my take on being a Student Nurse (I can't begin to understand why though), then stick around I won't go off topic so much anymore!

Warning: Studies May Harm Health

I like medical studies. I kind of have to since these are what powers my day to day tasks. They show me why things have to be done a certain way or how to avoid infection or make patients feel better. This so far will no harm your health but 'buyer beware' the docs have been at it again.

Lets start with a famous example. Once upon a time there was a combination vaccine for Measles, Mumps and Rubella, they smartly called it the MMR. Then after a study was done the press went a little bit nutty, blew it all out of proportion and linked this jab to Autism. Which has meant that equally nutty parents are not vaccinating their children. Sorry it's at this point I would like to quote House MD...

Young Mother: Her whole face just got swollenlike this overnight.
House: Mmhmm. No fever, glands normal, missing her vaccination dates.
Young Mother: We’re not vaccinating.
[Baby giggles and coos]
Young Mother: [Takes a toy frog and starts to make frog sounds] Gribbit, gribbit, gribbit. [Giggles]
[Baby smiles and giggles too]
House: Think they don’t work?
Young Mother: I think some multinational pharmaceutical company wants me to think they work. Pad their bottom line.
House: Mmmm. May I? [He takes the frog and starts to do the gribbit noise with the baby]
Young Mother: [Whispered] Sure.
House: Gribbit, gribbit, gribbit. [The baby laughs] All natural no dies. That’s a good business: all-natural children’s toys. Those toy companies, they don’t arbitrarily mark up their frogs. They don’t lie about how much they spend in research and development. The worst a toy company can be accused of is making a really boring frog.
[Young Mother laughs and so does House. The baby giggles again]
House: Gribbit, gribbit, gribbit. You know another really good business? Teeny tiny baby coffins. You can get them in frog green or fire engine red. Really. The antibodies in yummy mummy only protect the kid for 6 months, which is why these companies think they can gouge you. They think that you’ll spend whatever they ask to keep your kid alive. Want to change things? Prove them wrong. A few hundred parents like you decide they’d rather let their kid die then cough up 40 bucks for a vaccination, believe me, prices will drop REALLY fast. Gribbit, gribbit, gribbit, gribbit, gribbit.
Young Mother: Tell me what she has.
House: A cold.

I would love to have put up the clip of that exchange (it's much better on film) but no one on You Tube has done it as far as I can see. I recommend you watch Season 1: Episode 2: Paternity. But I do concur with his assessment of people who refuse vaccinations.

So to the point I came across this baffling piece of research, Ear Infections 'Link' to Obesity. So is this the magical link that will cure childhood / adulthood obesity simply by stopping ear infections. Er... no I think not. This is starting to sound rather like the simplified outcome of the MMR study - "12 children with autism who also had the MMR jab... oh look MMR caused their autism". So because I had several ear infections when I was a child that's the reason I'm fat? Least I'm not blaming it on my genes.

Well it's less likely than Clumsy Young Face Obesity Risk. Actually I can see the reasoning behind this. Think about it less coordinated children are less likely to enjoy school sports. Therefore more likely to avoid them in the future, increasing their chances of becoming overweight through lack of exercise. Brilliant huh? Wish I had written that could have made some money selling the results. I knew that sport wasn't for me when I was hit in the face by a basketball and everyone laughed. Didn't see it coming. Actually I'm quite a strong swimmer but when it comes to catching and throwing my skills stopped when the basketball hit my face.

You can't possibly follow every study done. I mean for everyone I've read that says X causes cancer there's another 4 saying A,B,C, and D all cause cancer too. You'd never leave the house, eat anything or touch a cleaning product. Least then I'd have more time to catch up with all the TV I watch. Unless there's a study that says TV causes some sort of debilitating illness... oh wait it does - Couch Potato-ism.

Blood

Well the results were all negative. Which is a little shocking. I mean not one thing off in all those results? First time I've been perfect in anything!

Well I was being tested for rheumatoid arthritis. The rheumatoid factor almost gave it away. I've had pain in my joints for maybe the last year or so and since they are all negative I don't really have an explanation for it. Hmmm maybe I'm just weird. Oh wait you knew that already.

So I'm off to gorge myself on TV I've had recording onto my parent's cable box for the last 3 weeks and to finish up some of the cartoons I was working on.

Resits

I hate resiting anything. Which means I'm frequently annoyed. Mostly I guess because who really wants to do anything twice like exams... big, long written exams. At least with essays they can just be edited on a computer so you don't have to hand write out the whole thing again.

Now the waiting begins....

Start of Semester Bureaucracy

Turns out we're off for another 2 weeks. Of course we didn't know this till after we all turned up at 9am. The degree students have 2 units in 2 weeks while we swan about like the lord of the manor.

We're senior students now. We have to act like it. I almost wish there was a way to reach the other gay and lesbian students on the course since we have no LGBT group here. Life would have been easier for me if there had been something like that. On a side note I was tempted to write into the Nursing Standard this week. If I do I'll let you in on it.

I don't get this.... we have a new system and we have to re register again (actually it's a bit of a regular occurrence). But because I didn't get a piece on paper in on time I can't actually do it yet. Ah beggery I'm gonna just put my feet up for a bit.

I'm waiting on blood test results from my GP. She took FBC, U+Es, LFT, ESR, Glucose, Nuclear and Rheumatoid Factors. It's actually a good thing I went on holiday when I did the wait is sending me nuts. She said 2 weeks and I'll get them on Thursday. Take 3 guesses as to what she's looking for.

What I Did On My Summer Holidays

So yes I have returned from the wilds of Auchterarder. (which is south of Perth... which still isn't helpful if you don't know Scotland well) Google maps are fantastic I've noticed.What did we do? Well we went white water rafting on the river Tay for one. This is actually us! I'm the yellow helmet on the far left.We went to Scone Palace, where Scotland's royalty are crowned.

We played a lot of poker.I lost mostly because I was rather drunk while I was learning. This lead to the nickname of Four-Sheets because I was four sheets to the wind (read drunk) and betting erratically.
One of the few times I did win I did it with out knowing. I thought I only had a pair but I had a flush. So no-one could tell if I was serious or kidding when I turned and said "What's a Flush?"

"All these chips... They be MINE!"

Other poker nicknames:
The Milkman - cos he milks you for your chips
Tex - cos she couldn't hold on to her chips
The Artful Hustler - cos she takes your chips without you realising it
Hollywood - cos his name is Frank (see like Frankie Goes To Hollywood... geddit?)

So yes we had a fun time and it's back to college in the morning. It's definitely a case of once more into the breach dear friends!

Holiday

I'm leaving tomorrow for a week with my mates so there might be rather be sporadic posting, if any. Well so much for my early night!
See ya
WardBunny

Frustration...

I can tell you life would be so much harder if bras really did have Rubik's Cubes for catches.

But true frustration is sitting trying to write something that would pass for college work and getting no-where. Bit of a pointless day all in all.

Ah well I should go back to work!

Frustration - today's comic from xkcd. Go read it'll keep you busy while I'm stumped for words.