It's been a busy week, the last week of term always is. In many ways i can't believe it's been a year since the last summer holiday. Can i still call it the 'summer holidays' despite the fact there will probably be no sun?
Well, back to the point. Today at school we had UCAS session, ohh how i have began to dread the word UCAS.
For the whole hour i was bombarded with lots of information, so of which i already knew due to previous research, as believe me it would be no word of a lie if i said i spend hours many even days searching through university guides, stats websites, university website, prospectuses.
We talked about entry requiments and university location. However, I have already been to a few open days already and even though this to many people this will make me look like a sado with no life: i have a word document with a number of different sections all of which have rating, then after visiting the university i fill the ratings, simply!
FOR EXAMPLE:
Distance from home: (1 being very near and 10 being very far)
Accomdation: (1 horrible and 10being amazing)
Course requirments: (1 very low and 10 being very high)
Placement options: (1 poor range of placement opportunites and 10 being rich range of placement opportunties)
there are many more sections but you get the general idea.
now the thing that us filling me dread......
PERSONAL STATEMENT!
i have a couple of ideas of what to put but with everyone telling me its the most important part of the application i have put pressure on myself to ensure that my personal statement is amazing.
I need to sell myself, but be truthful which is going to be hard as in reality im not amazing!
Hopefully, i will have my first draft finished before the end of July and then i plan to get as many people to look at it, as i can, the more feedback the better the result! luckily i dont mind people changing my work or saying that 'this isnt very good, you need to do this' as long as it's constructive and helpful.
Well, back to the point. Today at school we had UCAS session, ohh how i have began to dread the word UCAS.
For the whole hour i was bombarded with lots of information, so of which i already knew due to previous research, as believe me it would be no word of a lie if i said i spend hours many even days searching through university guides, stats websites, university website, prospectuses.
We talked about entry requiments and university location. However, I have already been to a few open days already and even though this to many people this will make me look like a sado with no life: i have a word document with a number of different sections all of which have rating, then after visiting the university i fill the ratings, simply!
FOR EXAMPLE:
Distance from home: (1 being very near and 10 being very far)
Accomdation: (1 horrible and 10being amazing)
Course requirments: (1 very low and 10 being very high)
Placement options: (1 poor range of placement opportunites and 10 being rich range of placement opportunties)
there are many more sections but you get the general idea.
now the thing that us filling me dread......
PERSONAL STATEMENT!
i have a couple of ideas of what to put but with everyone telling me its the most important part of the application i have put pressure on myself to ensure that my personal statement is amazing.
I need to sell myself, but be truthful which is going to be hard as in reality im not amazing!
Hopefully, i will have my first draft finished before the end of July and then i plan to get as many people to look at it, as i can, the more feedback the better the result! luckily i dont mind people changing my work or saying that 'this isnt very good, you need to do this' as long as it's constructive and helpful.
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'Nurses split over shift patterns'
Nurses are divided over the length of shift they prefer to work and the impact of shift patterns on patients, a Nursing Times survey today reveals.
Of the 2,837 nurses and healthcare assistants who responded to our survey, 46% favoured a 12 hour shift while 43% preferred to work eight hours. They were similarly split over which work pattern was better for work/life balance.
However, there were five times as many respondents who believed 12 hour shifts were the worse of the two for patient safety as those who believed eight hour shifts were the worse.
And 22% of respondents noticed they had made more errors during 12 hour shifts compared to 2% who felt the same about a shorter shift.
Almost a quarter of respondents said their trust had increased the number of 12 hour shifts in the past year.
Professor James Buchan, from the School of Health Sciences at Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University, told Nursing Times this was to be expected as financial pressure meant managers looked to which shift patterns suited “the bottom line”.
Earlier this year the Royal Berkshire Hospital Foundation Trust, which needed to save £21m, estimated it could save up to £500,000 by extending the use of 12 hour shifts.
Royal College of Nursing senior employment relations adviser Kim Sunley told Nursing Times she was aware of many recent reviews of shift patterns.
She said there needed to be safeguards in place for 12 hour shifts to make sure staff got appropriate breaks and finished on time as evidence showed the patient safety risk doubled when nurses worked beyond 12 hours.
She added: “The fundamental issue is about choice. Staff allowed a choice are happier and better at their jobs.”
Just a quarter of respondents always worked eight hour shifts while 37% always worked 12 hours; the remainder worked a mixture.
Many respondents said they preferred the 12 hour shift because it gave them more days off, reducing travel and childcare costs.
Overall 60% of respondents said they felt more physically exhausted after a 12 hour shift but respondents largely felt sickness absence rates were not influenced by shift patterns. Most nurses felt both types of shift carried the same risk of burnout.
Many nurses told Nursing Times that if they worked 8 hour shifts it often meant meant working up to 10 shifts on consecutive days, leading to tiredness.
Jill Maben, director of the national nursing research unit at King’s College London, said 12 hour shifts had been growing in prevalence over the past decade and were originally brought in to improve continuity across a day.
However, she said 12 hour shifts were often worse for continuity across a patient’s hospital stay as nurses working 12 hour shifts only tended to work three days in a row.
She said more research was needed into the impact of each shift pattern on nurses’ ability to do their job safely.
Professor Maben said: “I understand it’s really difficult for directors of nursing to hold the line with finance directors trying to make savings.
“Perhaps moving to 12 hour shifts means you don’t have to lose staff so I can understand how it can look quite seductive in this era of fiscal restraint but my caution is, do you really know what effect this is having?”
After reading this article i was left unsure weather 8 hour shifts or 12 hour shifts were better, as this article to me states that really there are pro's and con's to both kinds and shifts and in the end it all depends on the individual.
Through my experiences of school and work, i think i would prefer 8 hour shifts as i feel that shorter shifts would suit be best as i find i work better if i do shorter bursts of work even if it means having to do them more times each week, rather than doing lots of hours over a shorter space of time. For me the idea of having more days off doesnt make a difference as if i was working 12 hour shifts all the time i would probably need the first day to recover and relax. In my opinion the shift that is the best is the shift were you feel you can best do your job and look after your patients the best.
I wonder what shift i would prefer, when i become a nurse?
(see how i say 'when' not 'if' its only because i cant see myself doing anything else, nursing is the one for me)
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