dark side of the moon

yes i'm talking about butts and the associated pressure sores you get from staying in bed. patients need to realise how much damage bed pans do to their bottoms - honestly! if i ask a patient to get out of bed to sit on a commode - its for their own good - only babies are allowed to poop in their beds because honestly.. if you can get out of bed, why would you choose a bed pan?!
it won't make life any easier for us HCAs we still need to fetch the equipment, we still need to strap on gloves, and we still need to manoeuvre you (the patient) around the bed. so get out if you can, because thats really the only way you'll get better. 

poor morale

reasons for poor morale within a ward:

1. working early in the morning
2. no control/sense of order in shift patterns
3. getting talked down/patronised by night staff/early staff
4. nurses scrawl and disappear for a good 30mins off the ward without telling anyone where they have gone
5. having done a good shift, and the staff taking over slash out at you for not completing everything
6. getting asked to fill in charts when you honestly have no idea what the patient had
7. not getting a handover
8. promises made by the matron not fulfilled
9. when staff members such as doctors or physiotherapists blank a friendly greeting
10. needy patient greedy patient attention seeking patient
11. cleaning shit/getting faecal matter over your uniform
12. the uniform colour -.-
13. nurses telling you to 'communicate better' when the obvious is so obviously evident just by looking at the patients or from the distressed tone in your voice calling the nurse for help a while back
14. repetition of work, inability to work with other members of staff such as doctors and therapists
15. answering the dreaded phone calls D: is that just me?
16. no weekly in-service training, being excluded from training sessions
17. excluded from MDT meetings
18. measuring urine output every hour
19. when you have to 'get out' from patient bed-side because doctors want to finish their morning round
20. getting told off by other HCAs for not leaving patient bedside when doctors come to check on patients >.> please explain to me why we have to do this because no-one could justify why we need to do this.
21. matron being extra upbeat and demanding the same attitude from you
22. matron demanding you to be more than 'fine'or 'ok' or 'doing well'
23. asking the matron to escalate an issue and having her laugh in your face
24. matron lying between her teeth
25. asking other staff members about an issue and finding that its been prominent for a good 2 years...
26. the sense of helplessness in other healthcare assistants
27. back-biting taking place at the end of every shift
28. when you end up with a lazy nurse / uncompliant member of staff on your shift
29. when doctors use the 'doctor's voice' on you  =_=;

enough gore for now, hope i didn't ruin anybody's day with this list.

if you have more reasons post in comments if you may.

lazy nurses and their wisdom

i think we can all agree that doing what we do, we do it because we value life and want to help others get better in the process. this kind of thing gives value to your life, its like your way of doing good in this world.
problem is, when you do kindness it often doesn't get recognised. yet, when you make a mistake, its all hell-fire on your ass.
i had a lazy nurse telling me i have good qualities. i asked her to elaborate and she merely said that

people want to work with you

it really makes me question - so if she knows this, why does she try so hard to make it impossible to work with her? *sigh* nurses!

3 out of 4 nurses would not recommend nursing as a career path

so i tried to blog this in my break at the hospital and it went so terribly wrong! phone would not cooperate!
one of the main reasons i have applied for healthcare assistance was to find out whether nursing is a suitable career path for me to pursue. unfortunately current nurses and trainee nurses have given me their opinions, and they haven't been very positive. in fact, 3 out of 4 staff nurses admit that they have made a terrible career choice to do nursing, and would prefer other professions given the choice. there were various reasons for their choices and i can completely understand where they are coming from. considering the busy environment  of the ward i currently work in, even me as a healthcare assistant i feel swamped (perhaps even more considering that i'm also a newbie to healthcare assistance).

Entering the Healthcare Assistant role

two weeks ago i began a new chapter as a healthcare assistant. despite my incredibly low expectations of the job, i never expected what has happened so far. i am cheerful, friendly and i get on with everyone. reasons which i thought were enough to work as a healthcare assistant (HCA) however i feel that i have been wrong.

disclaimer: entries in this blog are for the sole purpose of reflecting on work, they are my personal view and do not represent any healthcare company or organisation. my views may change - it comes with the job, there are some good days and some bad days. please don't take everything quite literal, and don't use any of my content without an informed consent/explicit permission from me. 

Keith Campbell

just read my email to find keith's name mentioned. i'm deeply saddened to read about his death. he was a wonderful supervisor and mentor with so much knowledge and wisdom to share. he will be greatly missed. i remember when i first found out he was my supervisor - i was so excited and to this day i remain privileged to have met such an inspiring character.
news like this really make me reflect on how precious life really is. he inspired me to follow my instincts. he was very supportive about my decisions after university and i'm grateful for all his guidance throughout my time in Nottingham.