Last week, our first proper week of second year after all the admin of the first week back, really feels like a big step up. It feels like we are suddenly moving forwards into much more advanced midwifery. It’s exciting, but it really does feel like theres a lot to learn!
We had a full week of lectures, and frankly, I think it’s gonna take me a little while to process all the information we were given in these sessions – there’s just so much of it!
So, on Monday we had the annual compulsory Moving and Handling session, so we can safely help women move around the hospital, onto beds and off the theatre beds etc. Then in the afternoon we had our update of our basic life support. This was essentially a reminder of everything we learnt last year, but with the addition of using a defibrillator – by the end of the day my hands were all bruised from all the CPR but I definitely feel like I know what I’m doing a bit more now!
Tuesday was our CTG day. We were learning all about the statistics behind CTG fetal monitoring, as well as starting to learn how to read them and categorise them. I have seen quite a lot of women with CTG monitors on already in my training so I feel quite comfortable with the actual set up of the machine etc, but aside from knowing a healthy range for a fetal heart rate, and seeing the peak on the monitor of where there has been a contraction, I’ve still got a lot to learn before I can read these properly!
On Wednesday we had a session on Epilepsy and Neurological conditions in pregnancy, and how to alter your care to cater for these women. It was quite interesting to learn a bit more about the conditions there are out there, and a bit about how they are affected by pregnancy too.
Wednesday afternoon we focussed on Bleeding in Pregnancy, which was really interesting. We looked at some case studies and tried to diagnose why these women were bleeding in pregnancy, and the probable outcome for these women. This session, I think, will be particularly useful for my next placement, which I start this week, in the maternity assessment unit, as that is the first port of call for those women who are having trouble in pregnancy, including bleeding.
On Thursday we had the day off and I spent the day doing a serious amount of laundry, followed by a full body massage (the gym had an offer on, I’m not made of money!) which was absolute BLISS!
Friday was another day that was split in two. The morning was all the theory around suturing, as we are doing the practical session for learning suturing this week (eek!) and then the afternoon was spent discussing renal disorders in pregnancy and how they affect pregnancy and the outcome for the women and their babies.
It’s been a long week, and a HUGE amount of information to absorb, but it really feels like an exciting step up from last year, and like we are really training to become autonomous medical practitioners now! EEK!
Image by Dmitry Schemelev
To read last weeks “Midwife Mondays” post, click here:
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