(no subject)
Well I suppose I havent updated in a while (livejournal is telling me its been 4 whole weeks) due to the fact that I've been stupidly busy. Not even excitingly busy, I've mainly just been in and out of various hospitals and trying to manage my personal life around this, which usually isnt very easy. My last post was pre hospital move and all I can say about post-move is thats its CHOAS! Too many patients, not enough rooms, not enough staff and who ever though it was a good idea to put inpatients, orthopaedics and GP's, and why (considering the heat at the moment) has the hospital not got any air conditioning?! However I've only spent one 9-5 week there and that was 3 weeks ago so maybe it might be better now I dont know, I have to go in later today seeing as I cant go to Burton as I dont have my car and have to have 3 vials of blood taken out of me this morning which didnt make me feel so good.
So, so far I've been rotated around Ripley Derby and Burton. Ripley was ok, but very small and mainly contained very arthritic people, so lots of hips knees and spines, plus the machine there was ancient and didnt really move so I ended up vrtually putting my back out dragging it round the room everyday. I did a week of evenings at Derby which is always fun cos a week of evenings means a week of lie ins and usually you get to see some interesting stuff (including a woman who had fallen onto a circular saw, and another woman who had chopped the end of her finger off and it was bleeding all over the place!) and for the last too weeks I've been at Burton. Burton is a notoriuos sore spot for student radiographers as its hard to get there in all the traffic (as with Ripley, you would be screwed if you didnt have a car) and well the staff dont seem to like the students much and they give us some pretty old fashioned attitudes, for example Derby radiographers talk to the students and let them join in and are generally nice while at Burton students are very much to be seen and not heard occaisionally being commanded to do a hand or a foot under the watchful eye of a supervisor as this is all we are deemed capable of, and dont get my started on the equipment! Though however this time around they have been better (I think the uni has had some strong words), and I usually just busy myself with going on mobiles or to theatre to keep out of the way. Incidently I witnessed a very interesting incident while in theatre which I am not going to discuss to any extent on here due to the fear of the NHS policing the internet and accusing of breaking any confidentiality nonsense (two student nurses got struck off after discussing their work on facebook earlier this year), but lets just say things didnt go as planned and the surgeon was far from happy. Otherwise theatre was good seeing as I am able to pretty much do stuff on my own now as it feels less daunting talking to doctors etc!
In terms of my course I have 3 out of 4 of my practical assessments done already which, seeing as I still have another 6 months to go, stands me in very good stead. I just have to remeber to keep up on my numbers and stuff as my folder is looking a bit emptier than I would like seeing as I keep forgetting to record things down. After saying I would never start an essay the day before the deadline on Monday I did just that. It wasnt as bad as last time seeing as I started at 11pm the day before rather than 3am on the day. Serioulsy thought I wasnt going to do it, but I worked for about 5 hours straight, then having 5 hours sleep and getting up again to resume for another 4 hours. Although it was stressful I feel that I wrote it well and although I didnt start it until late I had still given it an intense 12 hours with plenty of research references and I hope it gets me a good mark. I think its just the way I work, I have to have a deadline to pressure me abit (though I do admit that was cutting it close), however I find that if I start things early I am unhappy with the way its going as I dont feel as pressured so end up (as in one of my last assignments) completely re-wording it the day before to it make it feel more right, which I suppose in hindsight was better as it got me a 2.1 in the end for that essay. I think a deadline pressurises me to get it right first time plus I can think better once I have started to get into it so I may as well do it all while my head is in the right place. The essay that I started at 3am on the day that it was handed in gained me my highest module mark, so I'm hoping for good results with this one as I really did put a lot of effort into it albeit it being the day before and I thought it was pretty well written and my action plans made sense, so heres hoping, as I really need to continue to get B's (2.1s) in my assignment to get a 2.1 overall. However saying all this I do not plan to have the same approach for my dissertation as that might just kill me. At the moment I am working on the first chapter for a priliminary submission tommorrow although the final deadline isnt unitl the 5th November, but yeah work work work! I'm slightly jealous of the people who have finished thier courses already, though even if I hadnt screwed up that second year module which means I have to take last years placement this year, I still wouldnt have been finishing til the end of July or graduating til January. I'm just looking forward to not doing any more education for a while, earning some real money and actually being able to go out and do stuff rather than sitting at home poor and under a pile of assignment deadlines and exam revision. Theres jobs up at the moment but they are all in London. It is expected that more should come out come September and I'm hoping there will be some good ones!
In other non hospital/course related news I have a flat to move into after my lease has finished here. Its just down the road so still close to town and the hospital (oops I said that word again), and we get the keys on Tuesday! I'm looking forward to actually unpacking my stuff and sorting it out as I've moved house so many times in the last 3 years that I havent even bothered unpacking the last couple of times and I have boxes and boxes of stuff that I proably dont need anymore, and it would be nice to have some space. My old phone of 5 years has finally given up and I've ended up buying an iPhone (quite a big upgrade) as I wanted to stay with 02 as I've always had pretty good service from them (seeing as I've been with them since I was 11 and had my current sim card since I was 13 so I've always got lots of feebies) and as they endorse the iPhone it was actually their best deal. I have to say I really like it. Setting it up was a pain as you have to connect it to itunes which I'm not a fan of, but otherwise its really easy to use, shiney and sleek (although I have to carry it around in a sock as I dont have a case for it yet) and pretty simple, so at the moment I'm protecting it like it was my baby as I'd be really really pissed off if I lost it! Had an action packed weekend with two BBQs as well as other events which I was unable to attend as for some reason I was like quadruple booked as like pretty much everyone I knew wanted to do something that weekend. It was nice to get out in the sun for a bit though especially as this weekend will be spent working :( but last week next week yay!
Apart from that I've had to take my car in becuase its taking in a tank of water a day for unknown reasons and go for a blood test (which I had to be starved for) because I keep coming over all lightheaded, dizzy and ridiculously for no reason, plus my blood pressure is quite low, but I'll suppose I'll have to see, but I'm guessing anaemia as it runs in the family.
And thats about it!
Over and out!
So, so far I've been rotated around Ripley Derby and Burton. Ripley was ok, but very small and mainly contained very arthritic people, so lots of hips knees and spines, plus the machine there was ancient and didnt really move so I ended up vrtually putting my back out dragging it round the room everyday. I did a week of evenings at Derby which is always fun cos a week of evenings means a week of lie ins and usually you get to see some interesting stuff (including a woman who had fallen onto a circular saw, and another woman who had chopped the end of her finger off and it was bleeding all over the place!) and for the last too weeks I've been at Burton. Burton is a notoriuos sore spot for student radiographers as its hard to get there in all the traffic (as with Ripley, you would be screwed if you didnt have a car) and well the staff dont seem to like the students much and they give us some pretty old fashioned attitudes, for example Derby radiographers talk to the students and let them join in and are generally nice while at Burton students are very much to be seen and not heard occaisionally being commanded to do a hand or a foot under the watchful eye of a supervisor as this is all we are deemed capable of, and dont get my started on the equipment! Though however this time around they have been better (I think the uni has had some strong words), and I usually just busy myself with going on mobiles or to theatre to keep out of the way. Incidently I witnessed a very interesting incident while in theatre which I am not going to discuss to any extent on here due to the fear of the NHS policing the internet and accusing of breaking any confidentiality nonsense (two student nurses got struck off after discussing their work on facebook earlier this year), but lets just say things didnt go as planned and the surgeon was far from happy. Otherwise theatre was good seeing as I am able to pretty much do stuff on my own now as it feels less daunting talking to doctors etc!
In terms of my course I have 3 out of 4 of my practical assessments done already which, seeing as I still have another 6 months to go, stands me in very good stead. I just have to remeber to keep up on my numbers and stuff as my folder is looking a bit emptier than I would like seeing as I keep forgetting to record things down. After saying I would never start an essay the day before the deadline on Monday I did just that. It wasnt as bad as last time seeing as I started at 11pm the day before rather than 3am on the day. Serioulsy thought I wasnt going to do it, but I worked for about 5 hours straight, then having 5 hours sleep and getting up again to resume for another 4 hours. Although it was stressful I feel that I wrote it well and although I didnt start it until late I had still given it an intense 12 hours with plenty of research references and I hope it gets me a good mark. I think its just the way I work, I have to have a deadline to pressure me abit (though I do admit that was cutting it close), however I find that if I start things early I am unhappy with the way its going as I dont feel as pressured so end up (as in one of my last assignments) completely re-wording it the day before to it make it feel more right, which I suppose in hindsight was better as it got me a 2.1 in the end for that essay. I think a deadline pressurises me to get it right first time plus I can think better once I have started to get into it so I may as well do it all while my head is in the right place. The essay that I started at 3am on the day that it was handed in gained me my highest module mark, so I'm hoping for good results with this one as I really did put a lot of effort into it albeit it being the day before and I thought it was pretty well written and my action plans made sense, so heres hoping, as I really need to continue to get B's (2.1s) in my assignment to get a 2.1 overall. However saying all this I do not plan to have the same approach for my dissertation as that might just kill me. At the moment I am working on the first chapter for a priliminary submission tommorrow although the final deadline isnt unitl the 5th November, but yeah work work work! I'm slightly jealous of the people who have finished thier courses already, though even if I hadnt screwed up that second year module which means I have to take last years placement this year, I still wouldnt have been finishing til the end of July or graduating til January. I'm just looking forward to not doing any more education for a while, earning some real money and actually being able to go out and do stuff rather than sitting at home poor and under a pile of assignment deadlines and exam revision. Theres jobs up at the moment but they are all in London. It is expected that more should come out come September and I'm hoping there will be some good ones!
In other non hospital/course related news I have a flat to move into after my lease has finished here. Its just down the road so still close to town and the hospital (oops I said that word again), and we get the keys on Tuesday! I'm looking forward to actually unpacking my stuff and sorting it out as I've moved house so many times in the last 3 years that I havent even bothered unpacking the last couple of times and I have boxes and boxes of stuff that I proably dont need anymore, and it would be nice to have some space. My old phone of 5 years has finally given up and I've ended up buying an iPhone (quite a big upgrade) as I wanted to stay with 02 as I've always had pretty good service from them (seeing as I've been with them since I was 11 and had my current sim card since I was 13 so I've always got lots of feebies) and as they endorse the iPhone it was actually their best deal. I have to say I really like it. Setting it up was a pain as you have to connect it to itunes which I'm not a fan of, but otherwise its really easy to use, shiney and sleek (although I have to carry it around in a sock as I dont have a case for it yet) and pretty simple, so at the moment I'm protecting it like it was my baby as I'd be really really pissed off if I lost it! Had an action packed weekend with two BBQs as well as other events which I was unable to attend as for some reason I was like quadruple booked as like pretty much everyone I knew wanted to do something that weekend. It was nice to get out in the sun for a bit though especially as this weekend will be spent working :( but last week next week yay!
Apart from that I've had to take my car in becuase its taking in a tank of water a day for unknown reasons and go for a blood test (which I had to be starved for) because I keep coming over all lightheaded, dizzy and ridiculously for no reason, plus my blood pressure is quite low, but I'll suppose I'll have to see, but I'm guessing anaemia as it runs in the family.
And thats about it!
Over and out!