Last Report to Pass

Dear Group 2,

So much things had happened these past few months that everything went by in a blur. This is my last report here as one of this group's member but as a friend, I will always be here.

I will like to thank Mr Tan, Ms Adeline, Ms Emily, Ms Liping and Ms Emma for the time that they spent with us and their efforts to guide and mould us in to what we are now. Without their guidance and inputs, we will never have been so united and strong as a group.

From the beginning, I was elected to be group leader, I was unsure and afraid of what I had to undertake at that time. But through the strong support from the whole group and cooperation among us, I was able to overcome these self-doubts and performed to the best of my ability as a leader.

I didn't make Group 2 to become better or much more, to the admiration of the others. Instead I will say that each and everyone of you made all these possible. The credit goes to all of you for your support and encouragement. You have made me better and I am grateful for that and I also hold fond memories of our bond as a group.

So although I have left Group 2, together with Zhan Jian and Yahoo, for Group 1, I will always remember everyone here in Group 2. I hope that Group 2 will still stay as strong and as great. You are all great leaders and don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

With the experiences and memories of our group, I am now appointed as leader for Group 1. It may not be the same for me this time, as it is also different for members of Group 1. I will do my best and I will always hold special regards for Group 2 in my heart.

Thank you Group 2, mentors and friends!

See ya around!

Sincere Regards,

Stan

best wishes

Dear students,
time to say best wishes and see u again.
May i send my apologies for leaving PC,
to me deep in my heart i really want to see
everyone of you walking up the stage receiving your
diploma. I can imagine i will be greatly touch to see that
moment. Coming to work in PC was never a mistake and make the
decision is not a mistake too, it is fate that allow me to cross your paths.
It is my pleasure and honor to know everyone of you.
My desire for everyone of you is to be a nurse with a calling. Some may not
end up to be a nurse eventually , but learning to be a nurse is an
interesting journey , and it comprises not only gaining knowledge but it is also
life changing career.
I know all of you can make it to pass to be an RN, my prayer is that
your path being a nurse , will be an enriching experience that when all of you
grow old sitting on the rocking chair thinking back that how much you
have contribute into healthcare , how many lives have you touch,
Take care my dear students, all the best.
emily

Dear School...

Dear School,

We can remember the first day when we first started our journey to be nurses. Such a wonderful day, filled with hopes and aspirations. We have came from different backgrounds and had various life experiences individually but as a whole, we are driven by the passion to be what we are going to be.

Giddy with excitement about upcoming things that we will learn and experience, we are filled with a sense of purpose. For most of us, it was another chance after all those dead ends we had turned away from. We met our mentors, got our class schedules and made friends. The first days were tough. You are still expanding then so we accept it as best as we could. We saw the potential in you and we put faith in the fact that some day, you will be so much more than we expected. Inside small classrooms, great things were taught.

We were taught the mapping of the human body, its functions and why we should know about these things. We were inspired to be better, to think differently and to ask those things that common people will not ask. We were told that integrity is important and that compassion follows everything we have to do for our future patients. We were told all that because as you said, " You are all going to be future nurses!".

We endured as best as we could through the toughest moments. No one said it will be easy but we were not expecting it to be so hard. But still we persevered. We were compared to others but all that we can say in reply is this: they did not walk the same path and at the same time that we did. The others may not be necessarily better just because they are better behaved or having better results. We are the first and the best. Try juggling night lessons with nursing classes in the day.

Despite the odds and fellow coursemates going away, we pressed on. Holding our heads high and believing that our passion will see us through. We hold in our hearts the fire that our past and present mentors ignited for us. The greatest of inspirations comes from those who wants to see us become competent nurses, even good nurses. We had this confidence that we will be greater than what you want us to be. Like we had said: we are the first of many, and the best of them all.

But even the sturdiest of hearts waver in these trying times.

Our past mentors. Each left for his/her own reasons. Whatever those reasons maybe, we will always wish them all the best and respect the choice that they have to make. We carried what they had taught us in our minds and hearts. But it is difficult.

We went to the wards and people asked: where are you from? We told them about you. We bear the your name and uphold it. But we could not help feeling so alone as each of you left. We were assured that we will not be abandoned and will be supported but as the days come and go, so does our mentors. We have to keep receiving news of so-and-so leaving, so-and-so coming in for a week and then leaving. We began to lose confidence. Not in you only but also in ourselves. For whatever challenges that you may have to face, can't it be worked out? Why is it so hard for you to keep everyone here?? It is not just one or two that went, it is so many and many of them matters a great deal to us.

We are still going to be nurses. We are still going to succeed. But we may become cynical. Its neither all your faults, nor our faults. It is just that circumstances have brought us to this point. How many to leave before we lose all faith and confidence? Everyone that leaves impacted us to a certain degree.

How are we, as children, be proud of parents that we don't even know well enough? When we are asked: "how's your School like?", how are we to answer?

Disheartened and shaken,

Your First Students...

The Importance of 15 minutes

Time really passed by so fast.

It was little more than a year ago when we were still 'green' student nurses.

After all the trials and tribulations of managing our studies, coupled with all the problems that seem to hit you at inopportune timings, things seem to be finally looking up.

I can barely contain my excitement about being posted to Mt. E this time and in the OT. ward some more. I was so hyped about it that I woke at 4am to check on what I had to bring for clinical. The anticipation was understandable, as this is my first time at Mt. E and the OT.

This is the time when I finally learn the advance tools of the trade. The stuffs that t.v. script writers drew inspirations from. I'm gonna see real critical nursing, surgery and medicine being practised here. The clinical detachment of medicine, the compassionate care of nursing and the entire surgical team's efforts to bring the patient from sick to healthy, made all this learning worthwhile for a novice student nurse like me. This can be considered the "saving lives" part of what we are doing as nurses.

The day started with a quick orientation by our CP instructors. We are briefed on Do's and Don'ts. Then we changed to the scrubs and footwear to enter the OT areas! Miss Tan and Sister Tan were very nice to orientate us throughout the OT areas and also to answer our questions. We were assigned to SSN Irene who will oversee our learning and orientation to the processes of OT. We were sent to the recovery area for post operation patients to recover. This will be the equivalent of the PACU, from what we learnt from our classes. I learnt the importance of the first 15 mins which starts counting when patient is wheeled in to recovery area. The after effects of anaesthesia and the generally physical weakness of patients after surgery can not be underestimated. There will always be chance that complications may occur at any moment for the patient.

From my observations of the nurses at work, and interactions with them during break times, I can see and feel that they all took their work very seriously. They combined the best of their nursing skills, knowledge and compassion, into what seems to be effortless work-flow but in reality, it is very physically and mentally demanding.

Make sure that there are enough of this-tube-and-that-tube of every sizes in the drawers, the equipment checks on valves and suction machines, the system tests on monitoring devices, the preparations for each surgery, the in-depth understanding of ALL the drugs used and their effects on patients' recovery and etc...

All the above are just daily run-through for these nurses. And I have not managed to list them all. They made me feel that nurses are worth a lot more than they are given credit for by the average layperson. Imagine doing all these things and still having to remember the preferences for surgical set-up of each surgeon. Seriously, what will happen if there are no nurses running the show in OT? I think it will utter chaos!

I am going to make the best of my 2 short weeks there and learn as much as I possibly can about this aspect of nursing. I've got to find out how does a Magill circuit works before I conked off for the night or else I will be wondering about it tomorrow!

Thinking Of An Announcement

Hmmm...I have been thinking of how best to make an announcement without any diversion on your concentration for your pending examinations. All in all, it looks like a bad timing to me. Nonetheless, after the revision I felt relief that majority of you folks will highly likely make it for the MS module...although I would be more impressed if you all could demonstrate your ability to link up patho and the care (which many a times form the rationales behind the interventions. Have you realise it!??), esp the ENs (stress ya?). Please keep up the good work and the learning spirit!

I guess I would not have to worry too much as long as you could keep your thinking hats on...not only during the course but more importantly in the clinical settings as many events are happening simultaneously, be it routine or sub-acute, it is easy to get sensory overloaded. In turn, it may affects your judgment and impact on patient outcomes. No matter what, please be kind to the patients. Majority of the patients are, indeed, at our mercy.

A year more to go folks! And soon I would look forward meeting you all at a different platform...hang on.

All the best for your exams! I know you can do it.

A New Look! New CP

Dear fellow members of Group 2,

As you can see from the blog, there are some new changes:

The design and the photos are finally updated. I've also included a link to our student activities council blog. Do show your support by visiting the blog and post something. If you need permission to access the SAC blog, you can let Jocelyn Suarez or me know, so we can grant access.

As Su had mentioned, this semester passed quite fast and here we are going for our CP again. This is a good time for reflecting on our past strength and mistakes. It is also a good time to add in your thoughts as we progressed through our CP. From my personal chinese blog on QQ's Qzone, I've seen quite a few active members of our group, blogging away in your native language. I strongly encourage all of you to contribute some of your thoughts here too! After all, this blog was set up for us!

I have the intention of setting the permission to view our blog to be public. That will mean that everyone will get to see it. Although its mostly ramblings from me! haha.

Expect more ramblings and grumblings from me! Blog posts tend to increase during CP time.

I wish all of you the best for your CP.

Regards,

Stan

There are going to be some updates soon!

Dear Group 2,

The recent stressors of school term are coming to an end. I look forward to putting up more entries into our group blog and I hope many more will contribute their thoughts/feelings about school/life/general.

I had been quite busy in dealing with some recent additional responsibilities. I got appointed to be the official photographer for the Student Activities Club and also unofficial 2nd photographer for group 3 (they got another photo nut, like me!). Also helping out with the President of the SAC to create/design the SAC's blog so that we have a online platform to commemorate our activities.

Then there are school assignments, projects and stuffs to worry about. Politics to avoid, playing Aunt Agony (or Uncle? hmm...) to some, dealing with my sometimes wild mood swings, all added to the humongous load of things to do. My to-do list is like a 5000 words essay.... and that's only for a month... and nope, I'm not kidding! hahaha!

On my family front, there are the usual Big Brother's responsibilities to take care of. Things like advising siblings, mediate between them and parents, playing host to visiting relatives from far-away, etc.. etc....

Well, after all these, I'm still here and still alive. Things can get pretty stressful after awhile but in retrospect, I felt that going through everything that happened, made me become a tougher person. The experiences enriched my perspective and allow me to see the past(good or bad) with fond remembrance. I only hope nursing school can 'rough' me up enough to attempt Uni or even med school. Like my good friend once said, "If you wanna climb Mt. Kinabalu, then you better be able to climb Mt. Faber first!". Well, he got a point, except that this 'nursing mountain' is bloody hard to climb too!

This is a random post about what's going on around me. The updates will come once I consolidated those pictures that we have taken for the past 2 months and upload them here!

All the best to all of you and I hope you will post something here too.

Regards,

Stanley

Wish for exam !!!

Hi ... everybody from Group 2,

Now Yr 2, Sems 2 is nearly finished.
We start studying now for our final exam, don't we?
I wish all the best with our final exam.
I'd like to suggest that not only enjoy your studying week, but also study hard to pass the exam with good grades.

I am very proud of our group 2 as we are very united !!!

With love,
Suzanne.

Being strong

The sudden leaving of Jia Min recently affected some of us. I will not be truthful if I said that I was not affected by it. It was at this point that I really felt like giving up.

What is the purpose of continuing on? This thought kept going through my mind as I sat alone at the quiet corner of the library during that tumultuous period when my heart waged an all-out war against my mind.

Emotions fluctuate. The mind sought to control the flow of feelings. It was an even match between them.

How did I manage to call a truce between my two raging personalities?

I reconciled them to the fact that I didn't join and did all these for my own sake. On a wimp, I posted a 'cry-out' on an online post. The answer came from none other than a sister in faith.

I asked what did I joined nursing for?

She told me that it is to serve God and His people.

How true.

How have I forgotten so much.

How selfish I had become.

It was all 'me me me' for the past few months.

Maybe it is time to change this tune to somebody else's tune.

My dear friends and classmates, if any of you are reading this, I ask for your forgiveness and understanding. I am only human, but that is not an excuse for my actions/behaviours/decisions.

I will do better and be better.

Our group survived as one through so many things. No other groups came even this close to what we had build up for ourselves. The camaraderie that we have will persevere and continue our legacy.

We have learnt how to work with each other and push on through difficulties.

Now we have to learn how to be better nurses.

Ad meliora vertamur, be the best nurses that our future patients need us to be.

Eventful

Good morning Group 2, firstly thank you for your welcoming responses Stanley & Suliha. Suliha, exam tips if given too freely will defeat the purpose of testing the 'know how'. You are doing fine, just keep up the effort.

Secondly, I've heard about Miss Gwee's pass on. Although I have had only limited contacts with her, she striked me as a considerate & responsible person whom alway gave me advance notice if she needed a change in teaching schedule. It may be a comfort for those who loved her to know that it would be a great relieve for Miss Gwee physically at her last moment.

Thirdly, the past few months were very eventful in the office, probably for the students as well as some administrative changes would have an impact on you. While it is taking a toll on most of us, it was amazing how team work and perseverance can narrowed the inadequacy. I can't help but to say my favourite verse again: "Tough time don't last, tough people do".
Are you tough enough?

The Passing of an Inspiring Teacher

It was most unfortunate that recently, a nursing teacher, Ms Gwee succumbed to cancer and passed away. It was a lost felt by many who knew her and those who were inspired by her.

Although she taught us only for 1 class in fundamentals, what she inspired us in that class will be an indelible mark on our time as students and eventually nurses. We were finishing up on the lessons for that day and she was going around asking at random what we aspired to be. She looked in my direction and asked. "Young man, what do you want to be in the future in this profession?" I wanted to say that I am determined to be a doctor in the future but being afraid that others may laugh at me for having such 'high' hopes and when since I am already in training to be a nurse. I know the path to be a doctor from a nurse is uncommon but I really do love medicine and the fact that I felt I will be a better doctor if I am a nurse before. As a professional who takes care of people's health needs, I want to be able to see them as people that need to be treated holistically and not just a bunch of diagnosis and lab results.

So back to that moment on that day, I answered the 'normal' answer and that is to be an APN. I was not answering from my heart. It was not the truthful answer that I should have given. She said to me, "Good, good! That is a very good goal to aspire to!" It was then she went on to the next student, Sweetie, who like me, wanted very much to be a doctor someday too. Some may call it youthful brash-fullness but she gave her most truthful answer and got what she and I needed to hear.

After the laughter died down, Ms Gwee (who didn't laughed at her) said to all present that she knew of nurses who eventually became doctors. And they are truly better doctors as they understand at the core of all those diseases and treatments that there is a human needing care. She told us that it is better to chase after what we want and never give up on our dreams. It is something worth aspiring to be.

The memory of what she said to us on that day came back in a flood of memories as I stood there behind the glass watching at the crematorium. I prayed for the Lord to take good care of her soul in Heaven and said a silent goodbye to her. As the surrounding emotions ran high, I could not help but felt tears welling up in my eyes too. In life, we will meet people who guide and inspire us to be different from what we are. For the most of us aspiring nurses and 2 aspiring doctors to be, she gave the hopes and inspirations to carry on with our dreams. Goodbye and thank you, Ms Gwee and may God bless your soul...

For now and the future, whenever people will ask me what do I want be in the future after becoming a nurse, I will just say that I am going to be a doctor. Let them laugh and jeer at me, it does not bothers me because I knew someone who believed in my dreams and what I can achieve.

Cozy ground

At a turn of fate I suddenly am granted entry into this cozy little ground...thank you for the acceptance. Look like you all have some really charming preceding mentors, lucky fellows! Let's see if we will have more sparks together soon. Please note that I am a very lazy person who never seem to have enough time to sleep, let alone TYPE! So, don't hold your breath for regular postings from me...you will faint from hypoxia first. Catch up again. Ciao.

Hi again !

I haven't opened this blog for a long time as I went back to my country. I saw a lot of comments and I'm very pleased.
Now we are attending school for revision. I like having this revision class as I can study again, learn more, research and get a lot of knowledge what I haven't known before.
I wish all of the students also liked having this revision class.

The New Group 2

Welcome to the new Group 2's blog.

There are several updates to be made, so I am going to split it in to sections:

New Semester, new Grouping and new Mentor

As everyone knew by now, all the different groups had been rearranged.

Most of the members of our original are still in the same group with additional group members added.

Welcome to the new Group 2, Rebecca, Qiuyue, Yulin, Yingxi, Lisi, Mary, Rubing, Jia Min

I hope that everyone will get along with each other despite all our various individual idiosyncrasies.

Our mentor is now changed to Ms Liping who took over from Ms Emma.

Please give her our fullest support as our new mentor.

The Purpose of this group blog

For the benefit of those students who just joined, I am going to fill in a few details on what is the purpose of this blog. This blog was set up to allow everyone in the group to post their thoughts, comments and their reflections on school/clinical/life. This is inclusive of all the students in our class and also ex-mentors, current mentors and also invited guests.

Lets take it as an opportunity to further improve our writing skills too！I do hope that there will be more people who will post. So far we have a few posts, and I think that we can do better!

A few administration matters

Our current leader is Nge Mon and handing over to Wenxiu on the 2nd April. This group leader rotation schedule may change as there are new members in addition to our group so to be fair, we are going to have to re-elect a new leader or change the rotation to fit everyone.

The class funds will be readjusted. The treasurer is still Zhan Jian and we are still collecting the funds from the previous members of this group. This may change with the initiation of the new members. We are going to have to decide together whether it will continue to be the same. To be fair to everyone, we are going to have a group meeting and decide as a group whether to contribute, change the amount or any other issues. Please do not take it that you are pressured to contribute to the class fund or have no say in this matter. We are all part of this decision-making process as a group.

To all

This is our group 2.

It does not matter which group were you originally from, what matters most now is that you are now part of us.

Please feel free to participate in the group's decision-making and activities.

As Zhan Jian once said, our time here studying together is a short one and it will be really sad if we do not bring any nice memories from it when we eventually passed out as staff nurses.

My intention is to keep this blog going as treasure box of our memories as a group together, even after graduation. It will not be possible without any of your contributions here.

I wish everyone all the best in your studies and any endeavours that you may take. If you have any computer problems, you can approach me. I will try my best to help.

Updates

It had been some time since the last update for this blog.

I trust that everyone is still fine with their lives and businesses.

It is sad that a fellow student is still suffering from the consequences of an accident. I pray that she will recover soon.

Now on to the updates:

Our group is undergoing reshuffling of position. Group leader is handed over from Yijun to Nge Mon. Yijun will carry on as Secretary.

Jiangwen has left the group. Let's wish her all the best in whatever future endeavors that she may undertake. It is sad and inevitable but overall it may be for the best for her.

Most of the group members had left for home. Flew back to their respective countries for the long holidays.

And there are the rumours that the groups may be split up and reshuffled.

Although I felt that this is really an unnecessary move, it may be a blessing too. Our group have gone through so much together. Our mentors had changed several times. There were and still are conflicts between members.

But I felt that while we are still so united and cordial with each other, it may be better to leave it at that stage. Reshuffling will allow each of us to bring a part of Group 2's team spirit to the divided masses also.

Hopefully with the hard-forged team-spirit and attitudes that we have in each of us, we will become the 'glue' that binds the rest together.

Remember my dear group mates, our unity did not come about due to anybody's great leadership or good organizational skills. We are united because each of us believe in and trust each other. Each of us is a great leader. Each of us is more than capable to be greater. Group 2's unity is possible because of each and everyone of us.

If the next semester brings about changes to the grouping, then so be it.

I will like to say that it has been my privilege to have met all of you and formed this group. All of you will have a place in my heart, no matter where I go. I may have some difficult differences with some of us but... it does not matter anymore. I wish all of you all the best wherever you may go.

Bring what we have learnt together as a group and create more 'Group 2s'. Our school will need more unity to become greater.

We will be great!

Never let anyone put us down whether in work or school.

Don't go out without a fight!

Always caring, Always United.

Unconfused Learning

Now on my way back after a really long and hard day at work. There were so many things to do! Change this, take that, measure this and etc etc...

The things we had to do today were mostly part of the daily routine. There wasn't time for any assessment or instructions from the instructors. As I did my assigned routine and answered call-bells, I decided to put some observational skills into the tasks at hand. Assessing the patients that I have contact with, for any physical abnormalities or conditions.

I can say that this little 'practise' of mine opened my eyes to interesting little details that seem to tell a great deal about the patient's conditions. I'm still slow in 'linking' them into a coherent overall picture but I believe I will improve with more practise.

It is gratifying that I can put theories to practical, bit by bit. Of course, as the senior batch of students now, this would already had been a long-term expectations of us. Let's face it: a majority will still not 'get' it if they only worried about who's gonna sign their books and how much marks they can get. I myself only understood it slowly now. It's interesting that through reflection, learning finally occurs. And these reflective lessons occurs without the need for signing any logbooks or fulfilling some specific criterias.

As a student, I love my learning. As a nurse, I love my patients and my calling. But I can't help feeling that structural training have muddled up and confused the purpose of our learning these skills. By now if anybody cares to read my earlier posts, will know that 'grumblings' about students who are primarily concerned about their MARKS is my pet topic.

If I ever become an educator one day, and a student showed me that he or she is only concerned about how much marks they are getting and neglecting the most basic goal which is patient's wellbeing, I will fail them outright based on their attitudes alone.

Nobody's perfect, including me. But to show care for another human being is something so primal that any human being can do it. Let's not lose sight of what it means to be a professional nurse AND be human.

Observations

I realized the importance of keen observations during the course of our training. It is very important to be observant as we need to be able to tell what the patient whom you are caring for of their intentions. There was so much non-verbal communications going on when interacting with the patients that sometimes even not speaking the same language, we can also communicate with each other.

Observational skills also allow the student nurse to be more active in the learning process. The important thing to add is that observation works much better with asking questions about the things that you want to clarify and to affirm.

Just observation alone will make you a passive learner whom I feel that it is not a very effective way of learning. If going by a theory I heard of, which says that people can learn 10% from seeing, 10% from hearing, 10% from doing, then I think that the other 70% comes from doing all these at the same time and teaching others!

Now I've got a great reason to be a busybody!

Got a message from a former student ealier today that one of her classmates (also a former student student) met with an accident in the early hours of the New Year day. My student was seriously injured and the friend whom she ferried passed on at the scene. When I visited her, she was in SICU and was to go for another operation. She was conscious and recognised me but she insistently told the nurses that she did not want the operation and just wanted to know if her friend whom she ferried was ok or not. I could not lie nor tell the truth but could only tell her that I want to see her walking back to school. I told her she must leave it to good hands now that she is in the hosp. She should leave it to her parents whom have consented to her operation.

I appreciate the guilt feelings one may harbour and it would take time to accept it, but we are on this earth for a reason. If we are not due, we have to make the best of this life. May be she now has two missions in her life. One of her own and the other her friend's.... that really makes it more important that she pulls through and continues in her challenge in life. I wish she recover fully to face the world again.

And to the rest of you... we only pass this earth but once. Make this appearance in this world a worthy one.