Spelling catastrophe!

This made me shudder when a former student sent me this! There are MANY errors in this pic!

Syndrome without a name: The boy who baffles doctors

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-48051026

This is an astonishing, and somewhat agonising news story, sure to pique your interest.

When five-year-old Charlie Parkes was in the womb, a scan revealed a problem with his brain. He spent his first two years of life in hospital having tests. His parents were desperate for answers - but they never came.

Let me know what you think.

Mark

Recap of reading analysis class

Hello all,

Another great example of group learning this afternoon I thought. In fact, that was the final teaching class that we will have for the Unit, but we are very much still 'live' as it were!

You now have helpnotes, example questions, transcripts and sample answers for two vocationally relevant practice texts.

Next week we will commence the first of the two reading assessments, so this will be assessment seven. Hard to believe, right?

Any questions prior to next week, please e mail me. Everybody should now have an e mail from me, sent after the class today.

We are nearly there, so keep the faith!

Most members of the class have now passed the Listening assessments, well done to you.

Cheers,

Mark

The ‘Magic Table’ Helping Dementia Patients

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0767vqk

This is well worth a look and is a short clip surrounding the subject of dementia.

The highlight of Kevin and Mabel’s weekly visit to a dementia club is to touch flowers, pop bubbles and catch fish. 

It’s made possible by a device called a ‘Tovertafel’. A film for People Fixing the World by Nick Holland.

What a wonderful concept and one which I am sure will appeal to you given your knowledge on this subject area.

Comments below as always are welcomed.

Mark

Reading homework for Thursday - 'I used to think social media was a force for good. Now the evidence says I was wrong'

Hi all,

Just a wee reminder that I would like you to read the formative Guardian article for this coming Thursday that I gave out last week.

I would like you to think about the main points of the article, how it is structured, language used and how effective / ineffective you think it is with the likely intended audience in mind.

I will be going over the helpnotes for the final reading assessment(s) and clarifying some frequently asked questions on the assessment, marking, timelines etc. on Thursday.

If you have any questions about the final assessment, have them ready, just in case I don't cover your query in the briefing session. There is no such thing as a bad question after all!

Many thanks and well done to everybody who has been successful already in the second Listening assessment. The standard of work has been impressive again and your powers of summarising, evaluation and everything in between is improving all the time. Skills vital for the next leg of your academic journey.

If you have any comments you would like to make on the article prior to this week's class, pop them into the comments section below for discussion.

See you Thursday.

Mark

Is a daily routine all it’s cracked up to be?

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/apr/19/daily-routine-cracked-productive-regimen

Well, I would say yes, it is!

But what kind of person are you? Have you changed 'routine' lately to accommodate assessments, work/study/life (im)balance?

Let me know what you think.

Mark

The profoundly deaf girl who found her voice after brain surgery

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/health-47974844

Seven-year-old Leia Armitage lived in total silence for the first two years of her life, but thanks to pioneering brain surgery and years of therapy she has found her voice and can finally tell her parents she loves them.

"We were told you could put a bomb behind her and she wouldn't hear it at all if it went off," said Leia's father, Bob, as he recalled finding out their baby daughter had a rare form of profound deafness.

This is a truly extraordinary story and one I am sure you will find of great interest on numerous levels.

All the best,

Mark

‘I’m 35, with two young children – and Parkinson’s’

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-47822507

This is an interesting story I came across today about Parkinson's which we have been looking at recently in the Listening assessment.

At 29, Ellie Finch Hulme was diagnosed with a condition often associated with much older people - Parkinson's disease. She decided it wasn't going to stop her living her life the way she wanted to.

I really like the content of this article, where Ellie gives a clear picture of her view of this horrible disease. I'm sure this will be of interest to many of you and there are some helpful statistics, and a link to Parkinson's UK too, found here: https://www.parkinsons.org.uk/parkinsons-is

Many thanks,

Mark

A massive £1.8million research grant has been awarded to University of Edinburgh to examine the currently incurable Crohn’s disease.

https://www.theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2019/04/funding-for-crohns-disease-research-in-edinburgh/

This article may be of interest to a number of you. This is a most welcome step in the right direction and here's hoping that the vast amount of money afforded to the research team can provide a cure.

This award will assist experts assess and monitor outcomes for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that affects 120,000 people in the UK.

Many who have the disease undergo repeated surgery to correct some of the effects. The research will concentrate on mitochondria which give off danger signals that immune cells confuse with bacteria. It will also try to develop a simple non-invasive test to determine whether the inflamed bowel wall is healed.

Any thoughts are welcomed below as always. 

All the best,

Mark

Link to Second Listening Assessment

https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/clip/114704
This is the link to the second Listening summative assessment.
What will happen is that you click the link, type in New College Lanarkshire and then log in using your normal NCLAN e mail details. There will be time in the class this Thursday to watch the clip again.
Please do not make any comment on this particular post as it is an assessment.

Submission date is: Tuesday 30th April 2019. I have extended it by a few days due to the fact BOB was out of action for a while. 

Are we born with a caring disposition or do we acquire it?

https://www.nursingtimes.net/opinion/sian-rodger/are-we-born-with-a-caring-disposition-or-do-we-acquire-it/7028425.article

This is a great article that Sharon has just sent me and is worthy of some comment.

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.

Thank you,

MarK

PS - this is the text if you aren’t a subscriber to The Nursing Times.

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. I’m not sure if it is a skill or a feeling but we all need it. 

To be able to have some ability to understand how our patients feel is invaluable to treat them as individuals. We nurse patients with the same condition day in and day out and it is important not to become blase about their patient journey.

“I realise that my experiences have changed how empathetic I am”

But are we born with a caring disposition or do we acquire it in response to what life throws at us along the way?

When I reflect on my life I realise that my experiences have changed how empathetic I am. Nine years ago I went through a very tough time in my personal life. My husband died, 17 days after being diagnosed with leukaemia, leaving me and our three girls aged seven, two and 17 days. I felt very out of control as the life I was planning to lead was gone. I was facing a new life with everyone telling me what to do and trying help me when I just wanted to try and keep everything together for my children.

This has gone some way to helping me appreciate what it is like to have life-changing injuries that mean the life that you planned has now changed irreparably.

I am not naive enough to think I know what it is like to have a life-changing, long-term condition, but I have grieved so I have an insight into that process.

At my trust we have a zero tolerance policy on verbal and physical abuse, which is essential but I can understand how frustrated patients get – and that is because of the events that have affected my life.

I remember one patient who really struggled to accept her injury. She was a high-flying business women who got very frustrated with the nurses as we could not make her better or speed up her recovery. The nurses found her “difficult” to care for but I spent a lot of time with her, giving her the space and time to talk about her frustrations. I helped her reflect on how terrible her injury was – acknowledging that it was difficult and that we do not have a magic cure.

We all have different life experiences to draw on when caring for our patients and it is important that we value these and share them. It is also essential that we draw on the life experiences of our older colleagues who are nearing retirement, learning from them before they leave the profession and take all their years of knowledge with them. 

I do believe there is an element of nature involved in empathy but as I have got older my empathy has grown much deeper and I can use my life experiences positively when caring for patients

“We need to remember that people are all different so will react differently to situations”

I think it can be difficult to comprehend what our patients are feeling if we have not had any relatable experiences, but we have to try otherwise we can come across as uncaring.

We need to remember that people are all different so will react differently to situations – one size doesn’t fit all. So when the “needy” patient in bed three is constantly ringing the buzzer – asking to be repositioned – take a step back and think about why they are on your ward and if you were an inpatient, what would be worrying you?

Sian Rodger is health coaching nurse facilitator at the London Spinal Cord Injury Centre