EXCITING

OK, exciting news on many fronts! 

I’m currently doing and revising and revising my personal statement, and it’s going well, so I’m pleased with progress. Also, we had a Societies Fair today, and as part of the Science Leader Team, I was there to help encourage the year sevens and eights to sign up for science club. I thought the stall went really well as we definitely had the most interesting stuff – food colouring in test tubes, a skeleton, bubbles, everyone was wearing lab-coats etc! We got a whole bunch to sign up and hopefully most of them will come to our lunch time science club. Unfortunately I can’t actually be there most of the time because my Mandarin GCSE lessons are extracurricular and as a result happen in mostly at lunch times, but I’m trying to keep my hand in by suggesting experiments for them to do and helping to prepare the sessions and so on. 

But my most exciting thing that has happened is that I have been nominated Chemist of the Year for our school! This means that I have been the most interested and enthusiastic chemist who also did well with their results and the prize is a special awards ceremony and a chemistry talk, held at Reading University! I’m really pleased I got it and really looking forward to the talk – it should be fascinating!

That’s all for now, I’ll talk to you again soon

The Science Team!

Delays ahead

Hey, this post is just to keep my hand in. I've got a couple of posts in the works, but most of them won't be finished for a while because I have got to draft and redraft (and redraft and redraft and redraft...) my personal statement, keep my extended project research up, revise for the UKCAT, do MORE research on universities, organise the year 7 science fair (so excited about this one!) and a few other bits and bobs, so updates are going to be sparse until maybe late October. But, if you guys hang in there, I promise I'll come right back, and hopefully my first few posts will be interesting.

Thanks!

Hospital Visit

A short while ago I visited my friend L in hospital. As I was with her when the nurse came to take a sample of blood and take her blood pressure and when the physician came to take a history I got to see different examples of healthcare professionals.

The first nurse, who came to take her blood, introduced herself, which many of the others didn’t. She then followed this with “I bring pain”. While this might have been her being honest, I could see from my friend’s face this wasn’t what she wanted to hear! The nurse then asked L about whether she was good with blood, before adding, rather cryptically, “apparently not!” This confused both L and me, as this was the third time L had had blood taken. She quickly located a suitable vein and with little more than a “small scratch” the needle slid in. However, once the needle was in, she continued to wiggle it, which caused my friend more and more pain and discomfort.

If I become a doctor I would hope that my bedside manner was a bit better, and that I’d be more open about what I was doing – I don’t know whether she had to wiggle the needle to get the blood, but if it was essential I think I would have wanted to explain that this was necessary.

The second nurse and the physician were both excellent – the male nurse took her blood pressure, and after telling her what it was, told her that that was good. The physician conducted his examination, while at the same time, explaining what he was looking for (as they still aren’t sure what L has!). He also took a history to allow him to get a more accurate idea of her symptoms, and what potential illnesses it could be, ruling out those which didn’t fit – it couldn’t be dengue fever because the incubation time was too long, it wasn’t malaria because the slides were negative, it wasn’t appendicitis because it had gone on for too long etc.

I thought it was very interesting and was grateful for being allowed to sit in on it. I thought that the main points I got from the physician and the male nurse were that sometimes the patient likes to be included in what’s going on – they want to know why you’re poking their sides, or whether 124 over 69 is good for blood pressure. I understand that there may be instances where patients would rather not know what’s going on, and simply want to get better, but I think that the majority want the circumstances and their options fully explained to them, so that they feel more involved in the decision making.

Work Experience: What I learned

My week of work experience for me was enjoyable, educational and a complete eye opener. I was in the Argyles care home for a week (see previous post) and I experienced so much which was totally alien to me.

I frequently assist at Newbury Mencap, a charitable organisation which provides a number of services for children with disabilities. Many children have communication problems and special dietary and other needs. As a result I thought I was pretty prepared to deal with almost anything this care home could throw at me – I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I had chosen a care home for a week’s work experience because with both pairs of my grandparents being fit and well, I had no idea what old age could do to someone. I know that the UK has an aging population so if I became a doctor the chances of me having to deal with elderly patients would be quite high, and it would be good to get some experience in this area.

On the first day I was doing room visits. James and I would knock, enter, and introduce ourselves, before asking how the resident was, and talking to them about upcoming events that they were able to participate in. Outside each room, James usually gave me a bit of background on each resident – their likes, dislikes, etc. Betty (that’s what I’m calling her for the purposes of this post) was described as “a lovely lady”, but to me this seemed to be pretty standard.

We went in, introduced ourselves and asked how she was – so far so good. However, when the conversation continued she changed in a millisecond from smiling and happy to an angry tirade of complaints. This sudden change really shocked and scared me a little – it was how I’d imagined someone with dual personalities might act. She continued her rant until we left, screaming about how she was “fed up with being pushed around here, shoved over there, never had any say in anything” and how she was “sick of it up to her back teeth, I might as well be dead!”.

I was so thrown by the change and the torrent of angry words that when I finished my day there (no other hitches or problems) I went home and seriously considered whether medicine was the right career path for me. After a lot of thought, both that night and throughout the week I decided that it definitely still was.

While Betty’s anger shocked and distressed me the first time, I found that on subsequent occasions, when I knew that it might happen I was absolutely fine and actually managed to calm her down a little. I also found that she was having a bad day, as that first day was the worst tantrum I saw all week. I found it very interesting that if you spoke to a resident one day, they could happily communicate with you, but return the very next day, and you’d have trouble talking to them at all. I found this marked difference surprising, as sometimes the residents spoke in conversation and joined in, but on other days, you could ask them what they wanted for dinner and they would be unable to reply. I also realised that even a little preparation can mean that you’re prepared to deal with a lot else – other residents had issues and got upset, but a little understanding, and acting in a cool and calm manner can often resolve them

I later found out that the reason for the outburst was the nurse who’d just finished taking her to the toilet, and had come into the room behind us. I can also vouch for the fact that the nurses never forced her to do anything and she was given as many choices as were available, but still complained anyway.

Often being put in the care home could leave the residents with a negative view of life – “I might as well be dead!” being a prime example. However, the job of the activities manager is to keep the residents active and entertained, and I can honestly say Rosemary does a fantastic job.

I took part in the sing along afternoon which Rosemary had organised with a lady called Pam and her husband Brian. They sang and played guitar for the residents, and I could see as some of the least responsive and most negative residents came to life with the music. They all thoroughly enjoyed the music, many singing or tapping their feet, all with big smiles. This made me realise what holistic care meant. The lady who’d spent a while talking about the pain in her hip which even the pills she took couldn’t help was all of a sudden smiling and happy. It’s not just the physical symptoms that need treating, but the entire person needs to be reassured and made to feel comfortable.

The same was true of the residents when they went to visit the seaside. Memories of similar excursions from when they were young began to flow and I learned a lot about the group I was with. This was such a huge change in some of them that it made you smile just to see them.

I really enjoyed my days there, and I was very glad that they agreed to have me. I am planning to return in the future, but we’ll have to see how that turns out.

Work experience: What I did

This is the first of two posts. This one explains what I did for my four days, and the next one will talk about what I learned.

I spent a week at the Argyles Bupa care home as a work experience student. I found that all of the staff were lovely and friendly and it had a really welcoming atmosphere. My week did not go as planned. The first mistake I made was the week I chose – I ended up choosing a week with a bank holiday, so I only came in on Tuesday.

Tuesday was great except the lady I was supposed to be shadowing had been called out to deal with an emergency, so I shadowed James, normally a junior care assistant, but who was activities manager for the day. We spent the morning doing room visits, which were interesting, and the afternoon in training (I’m trained to push a wheel chair!). I also watched a film on the mental capacity act, and learned a bit about what carers were allowed to say when talking to the residents.

On Wednesday Rosemary was in a meeting for the morning, so I followed James again, only this time I followed him in his capacity as a junior care assistant. He was on house keeping, so this entailed helping him tidy and hoover the rooms, empty bins, and make sure that the rooms were habitable. Afterwards I helped another junior care assistant called Michael deliver teas and coffees to all of the residents. I thought it was interesting to find out that some of them receive a powder in their cups called “thickener” which did exactly what it said on the tin. Making the drinks more viscous meant that the residents were less likely to spill them, and could still enjoy a nice cup of tea. The afternoon was spent with Rosemary, Pam and Brian who were doing a sing-along in the main lounge. This was great fun for everyone involved.

Thursday was a special day, because Rosemary had organised a day trip out to Weston Super-Mare, by the seaside. I was pushing an elderly gent called Burt, who was still mobile but had recently had a problem with his leg, and had been advised to take a wheelchair for the day.

Friday was my last day, and I was sorry to see them go. I had been cleared to work with a nurse on Friday, but that nurse was called out so I spent the day with the residents on room visits, and helping in the “Gentlemen’s club”, which was where the home served fish and chips with alcohol of choice for all the gents who wanted to participate. I really enjoyed my time there, and I’m planning to go back – they even offered me a part time job!