Essays and OSCEs

Walking to University early in the morning

Unwinding with the student nurses in the pub, after the first week of simulated practice

Essay editing, made more fun with a pink pen

Leyton Techical pub - glorious on the outside

Leyton Technical pub - and glorious on the inside too

Walking past St Paul's during a coffee break

Lunchtime in Postman's Park

Messy desk

Tidy desk

Revising on the sofa - my view

Revising for the OSCE

A surprise OSCE good luck card from Olivia

Celebrating the end of the OSCE in style

Sunset over the Olympic Park, on my way home

I have had a very full few weeks of essay writing, exam revising and some excellent trips to the pub.  The exam I've just done was an OSCE (pronounced oss-key), which stands for Objective Structured Clinical Exam.  An OSCE is a practical exam, used in medical and nursing degrees, where we have to perform a clinical skill in front of the examiner whilst giving a running commentary about what we are doing and why.  It's a pretty terrifying ordeal, and endless books are published to help medical and nursing students pass them.

For this OSCE we were given a list of nearly 60 clinical skills which could be examined, and we didn't know until we walked into the exam room which one we'd have to do.  The whole process made me simultaneously realise how much I've learnt since this time last year (give an intramuscular injection? yep - fine) and how much I still have to learn (insert a naso-gastric feeding tube? yikes).  In the end, the skill I had was a fairly basic one, so they were expecting me to know it very well indeed.  I have no idea how I've done, but I'll find out in four weeks' time.

To prepare for our OSCE, and for our next hospital placements which start next week, we've just finished two weeks of simulated practice.  This is where we spend all day in the University's mock wards and clinical rooms, in full uniform, learning new clinical skills, and practising the ones we know already, on mannequins (if they're invasive), or on each other (if they're not).  Simulated practice is always a very intense fortnight, where we are overwhelmed with information and new skills, and have to discuss and act out many different scenarios.  

We were let loose on the advanced mannequins for the first time - these ones had pulses and blood pressure, and could be programmed to suddenly vomit or go into cardiac arrest.  The mannequins are cool, but scare me slightly - they have very glazed eyes.  On the very last afternoon I had to catheterise my mannequin, and made a complete botched job of it.  This is why simulated practice is both reassuring (it's just a mannequin, not a real patient) and necessary (I'm going to have to catheterise real patients very soon without getting it wrong).  It's probably also why the mannequins have scary eyes - the result of many hundreds of student nurses practising their catheterisation and resuscitation skills on them over the years.  They could probably do with a pint of cider after two weeks of simulated practice, too.

Knitting punctuation

My photostream is punctuated with knitting at the moment.
  

There are so many good, big, things going on at the moment: birthdays, visits from small cousins, exams and essays (not just for me), high school open evenings and open mornings, meet-ups with grandparents and plans for my next placement.  And in between all these important things, I knit a row here and there, cast on, rummage through patterns and consider yarn choices.  I can lose myself in knitting more and more as I get better at it; and the ability to switch off, take some time for myself and be creative is so important for my mental health and general outlook on life.



Before I started my nursing degree, I rarely considered my emotional wellbeing - but now I am mindful of the very great stresses of the profession I am going into, as well as the more obvious stresses right now of a full-time degree, two children, four chickens and a husband trying to valiantly pick up all the pieces.  I also come across so many issues to do with people's every day mental health and wellbeing during my training.
  

I now consciously try to incorporate activities into my life which make me stop, think, slow down and enjoy things.  Running is great, walking as much as I can is very good too.  Photography (just snaps on my phone) is a great tool for observing the smaller, prettier, more interesting things about my day.

And knitting.  The soft squidge of the wool is so therapeutic.  The sense of accomplishment is enormous.  The colours and textures of what comes off the needles is both interesting and pleasing.

I'm not talking here about resolving serious mental health conditions by knitting and taking photos - mental health issues need trained nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals to treat them properly.  But rather, it is about everyday mental wellbeing.  So much is spoken about a healthy lifestyle in terms of stopping smoking, eating well, keeping your heart healthy, or your joints in good condition - but keeping your mind healthy is not discussed or promoted as much.

The NHS Choices website has a good basic article about 5 steps to mental wellbeing, and The Mental Health Foundation has some popular, free wellbeing podcasts as well as a good article on 10 ways everybody can look after their mental health.  They don't mention the healing power of squidging lots of balls of wool, but they still have some pretty good advice and tips.

What about you?  Is knitting the key to your mental wellbeing?  Do you consider your mental health alongside your physical health?  How do you switch off and look after yourself?

Whatever the weather

Last weekend's early morning walk through Epping Forest: sunshine, blue skies, Cam and Olivia for company.

This weekend's early morning walk through Epping Forest: rain, grey skies, Graham for company.

 

Both very different, but both very good.

10 things

•        Olivia lost her Oyster card, which she needs to travel home from school by herself on the tube.  It is the third time she's lost it since the beginning of term.

•        I lost my patience.  "Just. Stop. Losing. Stuff!" I yelled.

•         How do you teach a child to be less scatty and forgetful?  I'm not sure you can.

•         When her replacement card came through I really just wanted to staple it onto her in some way so she won't ever lose it again.  What I actually did was make a long ribbon lanyard to attach it to her school bag instead.  While not completely Olivia-proof, I am hoping it will make it harder to lose again.  Her house keys are already attached to a long ribbon lanyard in her bag.  If she carries on losing things, then eventually everything that is important will be attached to her with ribbons.

•         We are friends again now.  She raided my button jar the other night and made this delicious bracelet.  Her mind is more often on aesthetic pleasures such as ballet, drawing, making and reading, rather than on practical things like Not. Losing. Stuff.

•         I bought a Nike running skirt, after months of the wanties.  I ran for the first time in it yesterday, and loved it.  I hate getting hot when I run, and the knee length running tights I was wearing before were far too hot.  The skirt looks cute, and I feel much faster and more free when I'm wearing it.

•         I made a white chocolate and orange loaf cake from a recipe I found on this blog by Ruby, one of the contestants in this year's Great British Bake Off.  It is utterly divine.

 

•      I am essay writing again.  Paper everywhere, and my head full of statistics and policies and care plans. I am distracting myself by thinking up cakes to bake.

•         When I am not reading NICE Clinical Guidelines, I am reading Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel, which is amazing but harrowing.  She gave a fascinating interview on Radio 4's Book Club this week.

•         I went to Sweatshop, they measured my feet, analysed my gait and I chose my free pair of running shoes.  They are bright blue.  I love them.

Surprises

There is so much about my running that is surprising; but still the biggest surprise for me is how much I love it.  

I've been running since May, so only five months, but it's now difficult to imagine my life without it.  I can now confidently and consistently run 5k in under 30 minutes and the longest runs I do now are about 7k.  Back in May the 60 seconds of running followed by 90 seconds of walking, which the Couch to 5k podcast begins with, were more than enough for me.  I guess a part of me is still surprised that I can run at all.

The nicest and most exciting surprise lately has been winning the September parkrunner of the month prize from my local parkrun in Hackney.  This means that I win a free pair of running shoes from Sweatshop - one of the sponsors of parkrun - which is incredible.  I have gotten so much from parkrun over the past five months that I feel like I should be the one giving a prize to them, not the other way round.  

Parkruns are free, timed, 5k runs that take place in parks all around the UK, and abroad, at 9am every Saturday.  They are entirely run by volunteers and welcome people of absolutely any age and running ability - the Hackney one which I go to each week has the fastest runners finishing in around 16 minutes, and the slowest between 35 and 40 minutes.  Everyone is welcomed over the finish line with applause and smiles from the volunteers and other runners.  Plenty of new runners run-walk the course, as Olivia and I did at first.  I try to run as fast as I can at parkrun now, because I love running fast, and I like the challenge of trying to get a new PB, but not everyone is a speed freak.

The exhilaration I get from running as fast as I can is another surprise to me.  I don't have any desire to run long distances like half marathons or marathons - I just want to be able to run a 5k as fast as I possibly can - eventually in 25 minutes I hope (at the moment my PB is 28:09, so 25 minutes is still quite some way off).  Mo Farah runs 5k in 12:53....

I am trying to do interval training once a week, where I alternate a few minutes of very fast running with a couple of minutes slow jogging.  It should make me faster, generally, and is also so much fun.  Thanks to the Couch to 5k Plus podcasts (designed for people who have finished the original Couch to 5k podcasts and who want to carry on improving) I have become much better at running to a beat.  I found that incredibly difficult at first, but it gets easier each time I do it.  I can now waste hours at a time compiling and fine-tuning interval training playlists that alternate songs of about 155bpm and 175bpm.  There are programmes you can download that will analyse the bpm on your entire iTunes library, but I just use a free metronome app on my phone and check the bpm of my favourite songs when they come up on shuffle.

I think what it all comes back to though, is not the music, or the speed, or even the friendships I've made at parkrun.  It's that I live so close to Epping Forest, which is a fantastic place to run.  Even though I enjoy it so much, running usually feels hard for me - yet what never fails to lift my spirits are the glorious expanses of skies and trees in this part of East London.

Cooking colours

Because I am a new and enthusiastic user of Instagram and a blogger of many years, I take an awful lot of photos of random domestic moments; and as I scrolled through my photos last night, I realised that I have a wonderful record of my cooking at this time of year.

Like many people, the arrival of autumn gives me a renewed enthusiasm for cooking.  The cooler weather, a new series of The Great British Bake Off, unexpected seasonal treasures in my Abel and Cole box, and a generally energising back-to-school-and-University air of new timetables and new diaries, all contribute towards this for me.

Chicken and leek pie, with a cheesy breadcrumb topping

Spicy chicken and vegetable soup

Chocolate brownies - these made by Olivia

Potato, bacon and onion hotpot

Making apricot flapjacks

   

The colours in these photos are autumnal too: the orange of my big Le Creuset bistro pan which I cook with at almost every meal, the wholesome browns of freshly baked bread, the yellow of eggs and squashes, the golden crust of a cheesy topping.  I even use orange and brown hundreds-and-thousands on my buns at this time of year.

Cinnamon and apple cake - adapted slightly from a Nigel Slater recipe

Using up the veg in the fridge to make a vegetable curry for supper - the night before my new Abel & Cole box arrives

Fritatta with cavalo nero, onions and chorizo

Autumnal iced buns

We've had the first mince-and-dumplings of the season, and the first slow-cooker stew is planned for later in the week.  I also think a particularly spectacular pie might be in order to celebrate the return of Strictly Come Dancing this weekend.  

As if autumn wasn't already my favourite time of the year, there's all this abundance of good food to share and enjoy too.   Good times indeed.

A giant cheese scone - fresh out of the oven; and two loaves of bread waiting to go in

These are a few of my favourite things

In this final week before University begins again, I've managed to fit in an energetic end-of-summer visit to Kew Gardens, and a long anticipated trip to the British Museum to see the magnificent Life and Death in Pompeii and Hurculaneum exhibition.  Flowers, pumpkins, a tessalated glass roof, ancient artefacts and good friends - some of my very favourite things.

And now I am rubbing handcream into my hands, in anticipation of going back to University next week.  A nurse's hands are very dry and sore from all the handwashing and disinfectant alcohol handrub they have to endure, but mine have recovered somewhat over this long, lazy summer holiday.

I've done what reading I can, found a new notebook and printed off my timetable.  I've been baking every day and have filled the freezer with muffins and loaves of bread in anticipation of days when there's nothing for breakfast and I haven't even got the time or energy to eat a slice of soda bread, never mind bake one.  I can't believe it was a whole year ago that I started my course.  I've loved and needed the summer off, but I'm so pleased to be going back now.  

Along with going back to University, comes commuting once again, and therefore the return of sock knitting, which I can stuff into my bag and do on the tube.  I am obsessed with sock knittingat the moment, and I have come to realise that it is a cyclical enthusiasm - as soon as it is cool enough to wear hand knitted socks again, I remember how wonderful they are and feel compelled to knit more.  Stay tuned for sock updates!

10 things

• I am in denial about the fact that Cam goes back to school tomorrow and Olivia on Thursday.  I don't want this summer holiday with them to end.  I'm used to hanging out with them; I miss them when they're at school.

Cam, volunteering at parkrun in Hackney last week

• However, at the same time I am VERY excited to find myself in September.  I love September, and I love the autumn - it is definitely my favourite time of year.
• My early morning runs in Epping Forest are heart-breakingly beautiful at the moment: mist, herons flying overhead, cobwebs covered with dew, the trees just on the turn from green to gold.  I find myself energised by both the run and the spectacular scenery.

Dawn in the forest

Epping Forest during a dawn run this morning

• I have a smartphone for the first time ever, and my eyes have been opened to the wonders of Instagram (where I am thelistwriter) and this Relaxing Sounds of Nature app. I play the nature sounds in the middle of the night when I am awake and reading my Kindle, while I am cooking breakfast if Radio 4 gets too argumentative, and while I am folding washing or paying bills.  It makes everything just much nicer.
• While I was setting up my phone I also reviewed all the podcasts I subscribe to.  I took off a few that I'd stopped listening to, and added on some new ones: Seven Ages of Science, 1913: The Year Before, UK Confidential and Inside the Ethics Committee.  If The Reunion was a podcast I'd have subscribed to that too, but it isn't so you have to remember to catch up on iPlayer.
• I've had such a long holiday from University, that I've started to forget that I'm actually a student nurse.  When the children go back to school, my studying resumes too.  I'm easing myself back in by spending the day with a friend at the newly refubished Royal College of Nursing library and heritage centre, just off Oxford Street.  There will be some studying and much catching up about our summer holidays.
• I need to squeeze in another blackberrying trip or two over the next few weeks.  The brambles in Epping Forest are still groaning with sweet fruit.
•  The lawnmower has broken, my beloved Kindle is misbehaving and may be broken and I have just handed over what feels like my entire income for September to Clarks, M&S school uniform department and the local optician.  This the other downside of the end of the school summer holidays - the children are each a shoe size and a half bigger than they were in the summer term, and at least two clothing sizes bigger.  I'm not even exaggerating - they are gowing like weeds at the moment.
• Graham went camping with his triathlon club at the weekend, and I realised that this has been the only camping trip by our family this summer.  How did I let that happen?
• I have another baby niece on the way, and am stalking Ravelry looking for inspiration.  She will be my seventh niece/nephew, and the excitement does not diminish in the slightest with each new arrival - who will she be? what will she look like?  So exciting to have another little person in the family.

Geraniums - instagrammed by Cam on my phone