This week has felt a little bit disjointed, as we’ve had different days at uni, and been in different places for part of the week – but as usual, it has flown by!
Monday was a uni day. The morning was a lecture on conflict resolution – scary to think this might apply to us in practice! In the afternoon we had a few introductory sessions, showing us how to find our way around PebblePad (our digital learning platform where we log our achievements and reflections), as well as a talk about our Carousel Day on Thursday.
Tuesday was a study day. I spent some time revising antenatal screening and postnatal care of the mother and baby.
On Wednesday I had a day off, and really enjoyed being able to take the children to school and nursery. I caught up on some housework and had a quick read through some of our passive OSCE revision papers.
Thursday was Carousel Day. We were split into placement groups, and rotated around several sessions over the course of the day. We started with a library session, making sure we knew where everything was and how to use it. Next up was another session on PebblePad from the 3rd year students. It was really helpful to see how they used it, and get some top tips! After a quick lunch we went to get our uniforms – the most exciting part of the day, obviously! In the afternoon there was another session from the 3rd years, all about our OARS. This was super helpful, as this is the document that comes out into clinical practice with us, and where we log all our deliveries, antenatal and postnatal checks and all the sign offs from our mentor. It was great to see some ‘in action’ and get a real idea of how they worked. We finished with a session on critical and reflective writing, which was really helpful for the essay.
On Friday we went out to our placement hospitals for an induction day. We had to wear our uniforms, which was very exciting, and we were given our NHS ID badges. We had a quick tour of the hospital from some current students, although I already knew my way around from working there as an MCA. We had a chat about the trust from the practice development midwife, and got the chance to grill the students about their experiences!
Next week is all about OSCE revision – it is creeping up on us pretty quickly now! You can read my week 6 update here, and I will be back next weekend to let you know how it has all gone!
