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.