The University Diaries

Hello everyone! Over the past couple of weeks, I have been flapping like a fish out of water; and this is why! We are on our 'out of ambulance placements', ie our hospital placements. We have five weeks of hospital placements in both Year 2 and Year 3, and the Acute Medical Unit was my first one! I am going to give you an account of these placements so you know what to expect on your degree. I had no idea what to expect but all in all, it was not too bad! Background We have 5 different placements in 5 weeks of hospital placements, each week is different. This week was arranged as my Assessment Unit placement, where patients are assessed, examined and begin their pathway. It is arranged by the university and I know that all of my fellow students have been placed all over the county with up to 2 hour travelling times and expensive car parking. We have to make up 37.5 hours each week and we have a POD (Practice Observation Document) which is a bit like a PAD  but more observati...

Left to right: ID badge, stethoscope, radio clip, shears/tough cuts, lip balm, tourniquet,  alcohol gel and clip, pens and pen torch. Here are my uniform essentials! Read on for where I position these items and the bits I did not include on the photo. ID Badge I put this on my collarbone where the loops are, you need your ID badge as ID (obviously) but also to get into the buildings. On your first shift you will need to tap it against the keypad and it will beep to let you in! Just a side note, some ambulance stations have really funny locks on them, so to get out, you may have to turn a grey knob to get yourself out (better to know than not!). Stethoscope I use this  Littman III Cardiology stethoscope (in orange, as you can see) and it is great because it's head twists to hear more sensitive sounds. I generally keep my steth in my knee pockets, however I have two points to make. Firstly, keeping it in your pocket can slightly disfigure it or it can get caught on t...