The time soon came to make our way into the conference room and we all hurried in and took our seats. The presentations began with a brief welcome and overview of what the day would entail... Angela Hopkins, The Director of Nursing ended her welcome by saying "you are the great, you are the good" which i thought was a powerful way to open.
Now onto the first presentation and what a presentation this was. Infact I think out of everything I heard today this nurses story is what stood out the most and had the biggest impact on myself and many others in the room. Upon approaching the "speakers podium" it was clear straight away that this gentleman is a member of the British Armed Forces as he looked incredibly smart suited and booted in his Army uniform. He began by introducing himself as Andrew Parry, a serving charge nurse who had worked out at Camp Bastian in Afghanistan on several occasions and not only that but was second in charge during his time there. It should also be mentioned that his main job is at Ysbyty Gwynedd as a Charge nurse. He gave us a tour of the Camp which I was shocked to learn is actually as big as Reading. He then went on to talk about his time there, how they live and the top notch facilities available to help our wounded soldiers and the people of Afghanistan caught up in the war. Using some shocking photographs of wounds, victims, and the devastation that can be caused from an explosive devise he had us all in awe of the work they can achieve out there when attending to the wounded. A few powerful points I took from this presentation are firstly, the facilities in Camp Bastian allow for a 98% survival rate for all surgery given, They also attend to babies and children who get injured in IEDs, and most important of all is that they manage to achieve such a high level of care even in such an inhumane and dirty environment. This is where Florence should probably get a mention. During a break I managed to speak to Andrew and I asked him what he felt his role was as a nurse out in Afghanistan and what he wanted to achieve and his response was, "To bring humanity into an inhumane environment" and my response to that was that I believed from his speech that everything he had said showed just that.
Following this speech were some guest speakers covering different aspects of nursing such as Midwifery Research, Nursing homes and we were also lucky enough to learn about different research projects happening RIGHT NOW and how we could potentially get funding for our own research ideas.
The next key speaker was Dr Crystal Oldman, Chief Executive of the Queens Nursing Institute. I had never really known much about being a QN until today so I also found this particular presentation fascinating! The QNI focuses on nursing within the community which is something I have experience in from my days as a Home Carer so instantly she had my attention. Crystal spoke in detail about the positives to care in the home and how its of up most importance that we plan discharges effectively to get our patients back into their own homes with the sufficient care in place, which is something I'm very passionate about. Crystal Oldman identified the diverse range of community nursing professionals. I was surprised to learn that few students actually enrol onto the District Nursing degrees but numbers are on the up according to her statistics. She made a beautiful speech about how "Homeless people" should be referred to as "People who are Homeless" which I thought was a good way of looking at things. And finally most touching of all she told us a personal story about a relative of hers that is now living with her family due to a terminal illness and because she "didn't want to die alone". She had no end of praise for the District nurse caring for her relative but made an interesting point about how this nurse had introduced herself as a "Care manager", something I will come back to later. Overall a great insight into Community care within the QNI and something I shall definitely consider when I finally look at which field I would like to work in. Crystal Oldmans speech was followed by 2 Queens nurses working in the local health board, who had been doing some funded research which was also pretty interesting.
Then came the fun bit... A DEBATE! One of our lecturers Karen Davies was on the panel which was all a bit exciting! The debate was... Care or Cure? with a panel of 3 arguing that Caring is enough on the left (YELLOW) and the other 3 that Caring is not enough.(BLUE) The yellow team kicked off the argument that "Care is enough". They argued that to care is to have the knowledge and training to go with it, that it is a combined thing in nursing when looking at the definition. On the blue side Karen Davies gave a strong argument that basically summed up to Care being of up most importance to Nursing but without the knowledge, understanding and evidence based practise at best we are uneducated nurses, at worst we are dangerous. It was a no brainer for me, Caring is not enough! After a majority vote the blue team were the clear winners and I felt proud to have Karen as my lecturer. I would also like to mention in relation to Dr Crystal Oldmans experience of a District nurse calling herself a "Care Manager", that Tracy Ross made an excellent point during the debate saying that "Nursing is caring, and we should do everything to keep the word nurse in our titles". I couldnt have agreed more with Tracy and I personally feel so proud to have the title of Student Nurse.
Next we had a bit of a treat from the Corysbyty Choir who are a Hospital choir at Ysbyty Gwyndd, Yes you heard right... A HOSPITAL CHOIR! This was exciting to hear as in my 3 years experience of working in a hospital I had never heard of such a thing, but what a delightful thought! They sang two songs and had me and Jess dancing in our seats along to "Lean on me". This took us into lunch and sparked up a great conversation between Jess and I about how wonderful it would be to have choirs in every hospital singing to the patients and how that would definitely lift the patients moods. I should also mention here that they put on a lovely spread of sandwiches and orange juice for us, FREE FOOD!
Time for the second half which began with another song from the Choir and then the Choir leader/conductor had us all standing up out of our seats singing... I couldn't quite believe it. Imagine a room full of Healthcare professionals singing "Oh when the saints" and "Sweet Chariot" and we pulled it off as well!
Next we were lucky enough to have a presentation from Professor Jean White the Chief Nursing Officer for the NHS Wales. The Professor began by talking about Trusted To Care report 2014 and this was her main focus for the talk. The report shows the failings of nurses within some hospitals in Wales due to Nurses on these reports failing to take correct Blood Glucose scores and how this had impacted on the patients. It also talks about patients being told to "Urinate in their Pads" which is something I find disgusting and sad, that in this day and age with all our training and equipment nurses are too lazy to help a patient to use the toilet. Where is the DIGNITY and RESPECT in that, due to my own personal reasons, promoting Independence and upholding the dignity of our patients is something very close to my heart. I could cry hearing these horrific stories and I find it impossible to understand how these "nurses" could do that to another human being. The Professor then continued to talk about what is being done to correct these problems in hospitals and did not forget to mention how this report also found that some nurses were delivering care of the highest standard and not to forget that the failings of one area should not tarnish all nursing. I do feel that due to alot of negative media surrounding the NHS and Nursing in particular it is deflating that the good work of those who care for patients compassionately, knowledgeably and uphold the highest standards of care go unnoticed. I think however it is important that we do highlight the need for change in areas that are failing to provide the very basic elements of nursing, but it is a shame that the good work we do does not get an equal amount of publicity and acknowledgement. Professor Jean White also talked about how the NHS is looking at the reasons why these failures happened and how these can be addressed and put into practise so it doesn't happen again.
Following on from this Helen Birtwhistle who works for the Welsh NHS Confederation stepped in at short notice to give a speech on why we are Celebrating Nursing. She spoke alot about the 1000 lives plus and gave a huge mention to Dr Kate Granger who I am delighted to say I will be hearing talk at the 1000 lives Event at Llandudno on Thursday. Helen focused mainly on the positives of nursing and what her role within Wales was as part of the WNC. She introduced herself with "HELLO MY NAME IS..." which instantly had me listening as this is something we are focusing on alot within our lectures at the moment with Angela Williams.
I would also like to give a mention to a very talented student who has recently graduated from Glyndwr University with his Art degree. His name is Anthony Jackson and he gave us all little crystal/bauble shaped plastic and card cutouts and asked us to write what had inspired us this year in Nursing. We were then presented with a "Chandelier" he had constructed and asked to hang our crystals onto it to create a "Chandelier of Inspiration". I thought this was BRILLIANT! What a way to create Art from our thoughts and such a nice way to get us thinking about what inspired us. He also had us making Origami birds and created another Chandelier. A very talented man indeed.
Above is a photograph of the "Chandelier of Inspiration".
I learnt so much today and so early on in my nursing career. I have come away feeling not only inspired but also touched by the story of Andrew Parry, I feel motivated to learn more and that I have a better understanding of the different aspects of Nursing and what Nursing means to me. I would recommend that every Student Nurse attends as many of the Events available to us and will be spreading the word to my fellow students and friends. I think that if I had to some the day up in a sentence id have to say that I feel PROUD TO BE NURSING!! Thankyou to BCUHB for the fantastic day. Later on in the week I have the brilliant opportunity to attend the 100lives National Learning Event Llandudno. What a week, I can't wait to see the inspirational Kate Granger.
Thankyou #hellomynameisSTEPH
