Finally!

After four very hectic days and an amazing day playing in the snow, I have finally found some time to blog.

What can I say; I came to Pori with a mindset n the MINE project and ended up having to take care of my really good friend. But anyway, at least this phase has passed for the moment; although I still remember every single detail of the sleepless nights every time I see an empty bed beside me.

Visiting the Hospital

When I first entered the emergency department with my friend in Pori, I came to realise what foreign patients and relatives feel when they are not in one's country. Having a language barrier was defiantly the cherry on top of the cake for that night, besides of course having to understand the concept that only one doctor works at the A & E, thus having to wait quite some time for him to review my friend.

The next 'thing' that made me reflect was that most nurses wore sandals for work. i found this quite a strange concept and even when we asked why, the nurse knew it did not make sense as it was not proper safe practice for oneself, however, never thought about wearing a proper protective shoes.

With regards to the ICU - in Malta, although the ideal situation is that one nurse cares for just one patient, this is rarely seen. In the Satakunta hospital, if I understood correctly, two nurses allocate in a cubicle care for three patients. Although at the moment i cannot quite understand how this is actually properly achieved, and if a similar scenario can be implemented in Malta, I think it may be a much better situation. At times, nurses end up not having their breaks and rest, consequently resulting in work burn out.

Cultural Visit Day

It was definitely the most amazing thing I have had until now! The feeling of running in the snow, rolling in it, sledging and playing with the snow were exceptional. However, it was utterly a shame that I did not get the courage to go to the sauna, since I was terrified of the ice water dip. But, after hearing everyone saying how much they loved it - which of course was certified by one's expression - made e reflect that I should never miss such opportunities. Nevertheless, I can't wait for next Tuesday to go in the sauna and jump in the cold pool!

Country presentation

This was really exciting to have a glimpse at the way other universities teach and ensure clinical placements are carried out through mentoring. However, upon reflection, I noticed that the main key points I remember are the ones that were conveyed through word of mouth from other fellow students. Sometimes, at least this might have been the case with our system of education; the educators see the perfect and expected form of teaching, whereas students can relate to the real life situation and explain in dept what actually happens on wards and at school.

The digital country video

I have to admit that when I was in Malta working on the video with my friends I honestly thought it would be great. However, upon reflection and noting other students' work, I came to realise there were loads of things that we could have arranged. For instance, we spent all our filming talking and explaining tourist attractions, and forgot all about university and the hospital. Therefore, for the upcoming digital story, I think that proper planning of what need to be included is a must together with a good understanding of the message that needs to be conveyed.

Working in a group

I have been allocated to an amazing group to work on the digital story and the student led conference. This morning we have decided on the skeleton of the digital story and what needs to be included and arranged in the Wiki page. I personally really wish to make it more attractive rather that a whole chunk of words written one paragraph after the other, as this may be boring. Nevertheless, we will be focusing of the selection, application and preparation for a student to opt for an Erasmus to any of the six present universities. Hopefully, I’ll manage to read my own country's wiki page, since I only took note of the Finnish page.