Week 11

Another week gone by, just like that. Feels like only yesterday I was writing last weeks blog plot, this year has just flown by, it's crazy. One week left of semester one, the study is well and truly under way with our exams looming in January. This week we learned about wound infection and it was actually quite interesting, we went into depth about cleaning diabetic foot wounds and the age old tap water or saline debate we also did a lot about and wound infection in practice. I am especially intrigues by the whole tap water or saline debate and I would love to see a study be done to prove tap water is perfectly ok to use.

Tuesday consisted of a mock spotter test so we went in and visited different stations just as we will in January. I think its a great idea that the lecturers factor time into our timetable for these, as it gives us a feel for what the exam will be like in January and we can spot our weak points and where we need to step up the study as the give us the answers at the end.

Thursday was a busy clinic day my sixth week of treating patients and it is the second last clinic in term! Where has this semester gone seriously??? We were on the morning clinic this week. It was a nice clinic with a good flow. The first patient I treated was a patient with long nails and callus to the plantar metatarsal area to both feet. After my bragging last week of being the only one not to have hemmed a patient, I hemmed my first patient this week and my god did it knock my confidence. I initially was quite upset and shaken by the tiny nick I had caused in the planter metatarsal area of the ladies foot. I had to get one of the qualified podiatrists to help me to finish the treatment. She encouraged me to keep going and she observed as I did but I was very tentative and afraid. The patient however was very nice and told me it often happens to her at the clinic. I was just in complete distress. However once I had finished with this patient the qualified podiatrist took me aside toe explain to me not to be upset that these things happen and even the best of them get in wrong it was only a tiny nick I caused in the skin and it was covered by a spot plaster not several stitches. She reassured me it was all part of the training and these things are bound to happen to first year students practising. She handed me another patients file and told me if I didn't do a second patent today I'd stay scared, she got me back in the band wagon and I've never been so delighted. I cute filed and cleared the second patients nails and then I reduced the little bit of callus on her 1st met head and t my confidence rose ever so slightly as I used the 15 blade. When I finished treating my second patient they gave me a box of chocolates as a christmas thank you! They we're delighted they could now go dancing over christmas! This really made my day and was a little pick me up from my earlier hemmed patient.

In the afternoon we were on skills lab which I thoroughly enjoyed! We learned more about pads and insoles and we made up some of our own. It was a lot of fun and felt like arts and crafts class back in primary school.

Caoimhe  x

Week 10

Well reading week flew and was even less productive than I thought it would be! We are now into the last month of our first semester and those January exams are looming. It is time to knuckle down and get stuck into the books!

Week 10 has been nice and easy so far we were given a later start of 10:30am for our usual 9 am lecture. Not a bad way to start a Monday morning. We learned all about wound physiology and important it is. I thoroughly enjoyed the lecture and learning about the different stages of a wound and how to tell if a wound is infected or if it is simply just on its way to healing. Tuesday was a bit tougher, we learned all about the hip and ankle joints in this mornings lecture before heading to our morning tutorial to look at the models and get to grips with the different muscles, ligaments and tendons important for these joints to function.

Tuesdays afternoon was slightly more tricky when we had a new lecturer introduced to us to speak about muscle contraction which I found very itty bitty and hard to grasp however hopefully as I go over it, it will become more clear. We had another surprise as we were told we had no evening tutorial and it made a dull tuesday, that little bit brighter!

Clinic was extra busy this morning although our group was eased in as we had skills lab first where we learned all about a pressure measuring kit and how it is an excellent piece of equipment to show patients the improvement redistributing/deaccelerating the pressure from a pressure point. In the afternoon we had a very busy clinic, we all saw two patients each and I am slowly gaining more and more confidence in myself and becoming more familiar wight he different techniques. Week 5 of clinic and I am one of the only few who have not hemmed a patient yet! I am very proud of this achievement. But for now its back to my anatomy colouring book for me before I hit the hay after a very long day!

Caoimhe x