Midwife Mondays 59: Filling our brains to capacity!

These weeks are absolutely flying by at the moment. Seriously, it feels like about 10 minutes ago it was September, and now here we are, suddenly having to make time for de-icing the car in the morning, with halloween and bonfire night both behind us – it’s absolutely whizzing by.

Last week was our first week back in uni of this 4 week block, and my goodness, are we having our brains filled. There is so so much to learn at the moment. It really does feel like this module is a huge step up from first year; suddenly we have to learn all these complications and the details of how you would care for a woman with each of these conditions in labour – there is a huge amount to get our heads around.

This past week, we seem to have covered a huge amount of information. I can’t quite process how much information we have been given this week, let alone actually process the information – I’ve just gotta hope that the notes I’ve taken will make sense when I need to revise it all, because right now, I feel a little like I’m paddling like crazy just to stay afloat!

So what have we actually been covering?

Well, we were in uni for our usual 4 days (we tend to have a self-led study day during uni weeks to get our heads around it all (thank goodness!) and we covered a huge range of material:

• HIV – the details of the virus, how it works and the drugs available.
• Screening – All kinds, from antenatal screening of the fetus, all the way through to mammograms and STI screening.
• Hypertensive disorders (pre-eclampsia)
• The Neonatal Heart – including the more detailed anatomical changes at birth.
• Public Health Organisation Bodies – to help us with our public health module (eek!)
• Health Inequalities – particularly people in poverty and how that affects their health and wellbeing.
• Diabetes – there is a huge amount to learn about diabetes in pregnancy – Type 1, Type 2 and also Gestational Diabetes – there’s a huge amount to take in!
• C-Sections and Anaesthesia

So, I’m sure you can imagine that my brain feels a little bit like it has been hit by a train coming back into a uni block and having to take in as much of this information as possible – but I do love learning this more detailed information; it really does feel like we are advancing in this course and learning about more complex conditions and situations – it’s exciting!

Now onto another week of uni and getting my brain around even more information – if anything, this past week has made me realise how much there is to learn – it’s not a half-arsed course, by any stretch of the imagination!

Image by Brigitte Tohm

To read last week’s Midwife Mondays post, click here: