Finishing up clinical in Huddersfield

So, as you know, we have not been allowed to work in the hospital any more. The University was able to find us some alternate experiences, which actually is helping us achieve our goal of coming here in the first place - to assess and analyze their healthcare system as a whole. So this is what our last week of clinical here in Huddersfield has looked like:

Monday
We woke up and spent a few hours preparing a presentation about our healthcare system and nursing education system in the states, and some comparisons with the UK healthcare system as we've seen it thus far. We went and met up with some people from the University to present to them. What was planned to be a 15 min presentation, turned into a 2 hr discussion! It was really interesting though - they had loads of questions and comments. They really like a lot of aspects of both our healthcare and nursing education systems and wanted a copy of our presentation. They then gave us a tour of the Calderdale hospital (way nicer than the Royal Infirmary we were at!). The part I liked the best was their labor & delivery units (or birth centres). Here they focus so much on natural birth and almost everyone uses midwives (in the hospital and at home). Their epidural rate here is only about 10% (!!!), as opposed to the almost 95% in Utah. Hmmm... I loved it! Because of their focus on natural childbirth, their intervention emphasizes alternative pain-relief measures, such as a birthing pool, birthing balls, room to move around and be in different positions, and so many others! I really would've loved to have even a one day rotation there, as this stuff fascinates me! I sure wish we could get our epidural rate down that low... (if you know me, I have my views about childbirth) :)

That night I was talking with a good friend online (so as not to disclose any names, we'll just call him Nate E....no, no, N. Evans) and I was doing a little bit of complaining about the frustrations I have with our clinical experience here. Being the kind and caring friend that he is, N. Evans gave me a little bit of awesome advice that really hit me, and I thought I'd share it with you all:

"sometimes the test is just what we do with our lives. the experiences don't matter that much...how we handle them does...that is what forms our character."

P.S. you should needlepoint this on a pillow - N. Evans will be widely quoted one day so you'll want to be ahead of the crowd!

Just in the few days since then, I have thought about this a lot and have really tried to change my attitude, just try to get the most out of whatever we get to do here.

Tuesday

Tuesday morning we met at the University once again for a lecture on diabetes and how it is managed here in the UK. We had lunch and went to tour their much-talked-about Podiatry clinic that they have at the University. It was actually really cool! Their podiatrists seem to have a larger role here in the UK and are used more widely. He showed us around and the last room we went into was a sports therapy room. They had all sorts of toys and machines, etc. He told us about all of them (but didn't demonstrate) and then was done. I was like, no way! I wanna see how this works! So I bravely asked if I could try one of them. That started us trying out all of them for like the next hour. He had been telling us about a group of children that had been through earlier and as I was standing on a machine and we looked over at the other girls hula hooping, I said, "And you thought you got rid of the kids..." :)It was fun - they had a HUGE treadmill (for big rugby players), hula hoops, weight machines, a machine that you stand on with one foot (the platform is wobbly) and you have a screen in front of you. The point is to balance and keep a little black dot on the screen in the middle of a target. It was quite hard! Then my favorite was a stationary road bike hooked up to a computer. It has a big screen in front of you that displays a course that you ride (with hills, etc.) and the computer makes the bike harder or easier to ride according to the course. We all tried it out on a short 2 min course, then the guy told me about a longer one they are using for a staff challenge. He said the fastest one was 6 min. Everyone told me I should try it, but not long after I started, I realized it would take me much longer than 6 min to complete. Man, that was a hilly course!!! I was in regular clothes and by the end I was so sweaty I was dripping on the floor!! Ha ha nasty, I know! Kind Candice was fanning me with paper napkins and as soon as I finished the guy laid a towel over my shoulders to wipe my face and Erin gave me her water bottle. Boy, were my legs wobbly after that! (I thought I should try the balance machine again... ha ha)The last appointment of the day was meeting with the community matron. It was interesting to learn about what her role is and how it is different from a district nurse or from a home health nurse. Once again, getting to know the way their healthcare system works as a whole!

Wednesday
Wednesday we went to a skills lab/lecture for 2 hours about assessing ABCDE, which we already knew. (Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability (Neuro), and Environment/Exposure (IV, catheter, dressing, wound drain, etc.)) It was a good review though, and we did really well in the simulation. Considering that we, as nursing students in the US, do more in an assessment than qualified nurses do here in the UK, she was very impressed with our knowledge. She said she wished she could have us do it in front of their nursing students! :)

Then we went to a GP clinic (like a family doctor) to meet up with a nurse in the ward here. She showed us around the clinic and talked about how they practice within the community environment, as opposed to the hospital. Once again, interesting to see all the pieces of the puzzle!

So overall, we are kind of considering it a blessing that we got kicked out the hospital, in order to have the opportunities to see the rest of the healthcare picture, as was our goal. It has given us a brand new perspective on their entire system.

Blast this wretched rain!

If you were me right now, you'd be saying, "Don't say 'blast' and 'wretch'" (quote from Little Women). :)

So this weekend (Friday and Saturday) was supposed to be our trip to the Lake District and the plan was to stay in a hostel in Ambleside (on the north side of Windermere Lake). But, just our luck, we had the worst weather we've had since we've been here! It was a downpour of rain ALL DAY; the sun didn't peep out even once; and almost everything to do outside (kayaks, bikes, canoes, etc.) was closed because of the horrible weather. I would have loved to hike, but it was so foggy you wouldn't be able to see the views anyhow, and going up higher would have been even colder. We had lunch and took a bus up to Grasmere - which the famous poet, William Wordsworth, said was "the fairest place on earth" - and walked around a bit. We went to Wordsworth's Dove Cottage where he wrote many of his famous poems, and to his grave at a church nearby.
William Wordsworth lived his life in various places throughout the Lake District (of which, I am quite jealous) and wrote most of his poems about what he saw there. One of his most famous poems is called I Wondered Lonely as a Cloud.

Heidi and I trying to make the best of this rainy day

A few of the girls went up to a town called Keswick to go to a Motor Museum that had a lot of famous cars, including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the Batmobile, the car from Harry Potter, a James Bond car, The Delorean (from Back to The Future), Herbie, Mr. Bean's mini, the A-Team van, the Munsters Koach, and several others.Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

It was turning out to be a pretty rainy and cold day, and the weather forecast was the same for the next day, so we decided to cancel our hostel reservation and head back to Huddersfield that night. But...before that...we wanted to make the most of what time we did have there! A few of us walked down along the lake, and then we found a "public footpath" (what they call any trail here) that went up the hill away from the lake. We decided to explore. It was like walking up a stream! We finally came out into a field, and there were sheep everywhere! They were so cute! My favorites were the little ones with white bodies and black faces. We kept going a little more up the hill but had to turn around to get back to catch our bus in time. The view from there to the lake was beautiful!

Views of the Lake District and the sheep!

Just playing around

Even the trip home was an adventure. Some people had left earlier, but Michelle, Candice, and I wanted to stay a little longer, so we took the 8pm train from Windermere (with about 4 changes to get to Huddersfield) and got into the train station in ole Hud at 11:15. We still had to walk across town to the bust stop (for Storthes Hall) and the last bus of the night leaves at 11:20. We were booking it across town...good thing there were no people out; they were all in the pubs. :) We were running down the stairs, almost to the bus stop, as we watched the last bus of the night drive away.... baaaahhhh! We didn't quite know what to do.... Then out of nowhere a taxi pulled up to drop someone off! We jumped in - so lucky! I bet the taxi driver was surprised by our soberness...I don't think anyone gets a taxi home from town that late on a weekend night who isn't drunk out of their minds. We were just glad to have a lovely ride home!

Oh, and if you're sick of seeing me in pictures with my rain jacket on, then tell it to stop raining here! I'd be much obliged :)

The English are just GREAT!

On Sunday we had another enjoyable day at church, then instead of catching our usual (and rushed) bus at 1:08 (church ends at 1:00), we stayed after to practice our song we are singing next week. We were just going to wait for the 2:08 bus, but it was raining, so we stayed inside the church building. We were sitting in the lobby with the bishop's wife and he came out ready to leave. The moment he saw us, he said, "Oh, you haven't offered to give the Americans a ride home, have you?" He was just joking of course, and ended up truly offering us a ride home. So all 6 of us + 2 of them (their kids were at her sister's house for the afternoon) scrunched into their teeny little car and we set off for home. In the car, the bishop then asked what we were doing for dinner. We explained that Candice was making us all dinner (we take turns) and then he said, "Well who wants to come over to our house for chicken, and who wants to stay home and eat dinner with Candice?" He is just SUCH a funny man and they are both so kind! We love them both to death!

scrunched in their little car (it doesn't look quite as scrunched as it really was)

Alas, we took them up on their dinner offer. It was fun to go into their home and be guests of such wonderful people! This is how we really get to see culture! We sat in their "sitting room" while they finished preparing the meal. The missionaries were also coming over for dinner that night, so they were feeding many mouths, none of which belonged to their children. :)
The dinner was absolutely delicious! We had chicken with a yummy white onion sauce, peas, carrots, corn, stuffing balls, the best roasted potatoes I've ever had (crispy on the outside), roasted parsnip, and yorkshire puddings (tastes kind of like fry bread (?) - see below), and everything smothered in gravy. They really like gravy here!!

We insisted on helping to wash dishes and prepare for dessert.For dessert, she had apple sponge cake (like apple cobbler) with vanilla custard on top and ice cream. Then she also wanted to make a chocolate sponge cake with chocolate custard on top. She said the cake would be super fast to make and Heidi and I offered to help. She got out the ingredients and then pulled out a scale with a bowl on top and you measure everything in ounces! I was like, how do I do this again?!? Well that whole thing is a funny story that I'm going to leave out, but you get the gist. She ended up taking over (kindly) because I was going too slow; then she just poured it in a little glass bowl, threw it in the microwave for 5 minutes and it came out a cake! It was amazing! Well, we of course had to try both apple and chocolate cakes/custards - and they were both SO GOOD!this is all of us (except Erin, who just loves taking the pictures) :)

Tonight, we got to go to the Preston, England LDS temple, which was, in all seriousness, just lovely! It was their ward temple night, and once again, the bishop was kind enough to arrange us all rides to get there. We went to the 8pm session, so by the time we got out of the temple, it was dark....but, beautiful! What a way to end the day! I'll say!


So, I think everyday we still pick up on new phrases and terms that they use here in England. Here are a few more that are either new to me or I forgot to put them in earlier. Enjoy! :)
"consultant" - doctor
"chips" = french fries
"crisps" = potato chips
"stone" = measurement of weight (=14lbs) - they really say things like, "Oh, he lost a good 8 stone after his gastric bypass surgery"
"lovey" = another common term of endearment ( i think i like this one more than "luv," especially in their accents - it sounds more like "lovay")
"pram" = stroller
"trolley" = shopping cart, tray cart at the hospital, luggage cart, etc.

Some VERY common names we hear all the time here:
-Fleur
-Fiona

And they tend to pronounce things differently too (even words we do know!). We've noticed it's usually placing the emphasis on the second syllable where we would place it on the first. Most of these are health care related, but they are pretty funny to us. I will try and put the English pronuniciation to the right of the word. Now you have to say them as you read them...
"respiratory" = res-PEER-ah-tree
"pulmonary" = pul-MON-ah-ree
"skeletal" (this is our favorite!) = skuh-LEE-tul (say it fast)
"capillary" = kuh-PILL-ee-air-ee (yes, they add a syllable)

Hope you enjoyed that as much as I always do! :)

Cheers luv, ta!
(that's what the train conductor says when he punches my ticket - like in the Polar Express!)

ENGLAND'S MOST WANTED

Carianne King
Heidi Hafen
Michelle Aucoin
Christina Jemison
Candice Rountree

Aliases: "The Americans"
APPROACH WITH CAUTION

Sorry to leave you in suspense on that last post...ha ha, well, not really.
So, we aren't allowed to go observe/work in the hospital anymore, nor any place in "the trust" (any public health care). They are telling us we don't have the right visas, which is funny because before coming here our International Study Office at BYU assured us that we had the correct visas. They even confirmed with the British Consolate! Also, when we first got here, they had us register as students at Huddersfield University so we could use their placement program to work in the hospital. Well, apparently being registered at two universities (Huddersfield and BYU) is illegal. The ladies at the registration desk were freaking out, thinking they were going to go to jail for 6 months. (chuckle)

At first, they were so worked up about it, they said we couldn't step foot in the hospital, not even to say goodbye! I was actually pretty upset, because I was beginning to really love the patients and the people I was working with. I think I almost cried when Erin told us the news. I feel like I'm letting them down, just disappearing on them. The university has since calmed down and said we could go back to the hospital on Thursday to say thank you and goodbye, but I am worried that some of my patients will be gone by then - especially one of my favorites, in particular (the one who called me Pepper). Boy, it sure doesn't take long to come to love someone when you are taking care of them like I was (very personal things - bathing, toileting, etc.). I know that sounds slightly funny, but I am truly sad to not be in the hospital anymore. I never thought I'd say that when I first got here, seeing as how most of what I did was just CNA stuff. But I think the greatest thing I learned from it was that I do know for sure that nursing is what I want to do. I really do love taking care of people, and if I can love it when I am only doing simple CNA activities (which is sometimes taxing - I admire CNAs very much), then I know its for me. :) I love the interaction I get to have with people. I have the chance to learn something from every person I meet, and that will be a lot of people as a nurse! I am grateful for the blessing I have had to feel a portion of the love that Heavenly Father has for His children, and I hope I can feel it for every patient I ever have.

So, long story, short - the university is trying to come up with other opportunities for us to see/learn/observe other parts of the health care system in our last week here. Our main goal in coming here was to assess and learn about their health care system as a whole, so the private and community sectors are important to experience as well. Needless to say, we had today off, so we went to the Huddersfield Open Market to do a little shopping, then prepared for our trip to the Lake District tomorrow!

Church, Castle Hill, Cricket, and Craziness!

We have now been to two weeks of church here in Huddersfield (actually the church is in nearby Halifax). This is us on our first Sunday at church. We got there about 20 min early because that was when the bus went. The ward is very kind and welcoming. We are pretty obvious here as the ward is kind of small. They just love having us participate (Erin, our instructor, plays the piano in RS)! Church ends at 1pm and the first Sunday here, we asked the elders (since they had ridden the bus with us) what time the bus left to take us back to Huddersfield, and they said 1:08. Well, it was 1:06, so we rushed out the door to catch the bus. Sadly, the bus stop we chose to wait at had a mysterious sign saying "BUS STOP NOT IN USE," but of course, we didn't see that until about 1:15. :) Luckily, some kind ward members offered us rides home. A couple of girls and I rode with our new friend, Luke, who we found out has a connection from his mission with a girl in our group (small world, even here in England!). He is really nice and gives us rides to any of the young single adult activities. This past Sunday he took us with him to the church to see the CES fireside (yes, rebroadcast a week later), and then on the way home, he took us to Castle Hill.

This is Heidi and Michelle with Luke on Castle Hill. It's beautiful up there; you can see 360 degrees around down on Huddersfield and beyond. The sun was just about to set, and it was gorgeous! But windy too! (as you can probably tell)

The view from Castle Hill

Wednesday was Michelle's birthday, so we went out to lunch at Nando's - where, as Luke says, all the girls go after they've been shopping, to talk about what they bought. :) It was pretty good!

The lovely birthday girl, Michelle :) HAPPY 22!
Then we went to an awesome game of Cricket. Our cool driver from the airport, Phil (the one without the tooth), took us with him to his 17-year-old son's game. He is the captain of the team and also their best bowler (pitcher). It was pretty chilly, but really fun!!
(Michelle and I very excited to watch a Cricket game)
Cricket is the official National Sport of England (even though most people think it should be football), and it was also invented here. Good thing we had Phil to explain the rules and what was going on. It's sort of like baseball but there are quite a few differences. Basically, the bowler (pitcher) throws it to the batter and they try to hit it. They can hit it in any direction; there are no fouls. Once they hit it, if it's not too close to them (their discretion) they run back and forth between the wickets (bases) and they count for points. There are actually two batters out there, one at each wicket, and they both run. The bowlers switch sides so each batter gets a chance to hit. If they get it to the edge of the field, it's automatically 4 or 6 points, depending on if it bounces (similar to a home run). There is more to it, but I won't bore you...They all wear white (both teams), with cute little sweaters or sweater vests. I love it! It's a gentleman's game, so there wasn't much cheering...just a bit of light clapping every once in a while.
(And yes, that's Castle Hill in the background)
A "bowl" (pitch) - Phil's son

And here's a short clip for you (sorry it's not long, my camera was dying) - this is a bowl, then a hit, and the batters running between wickets.

And last, but not least, MOVIE NIGHT! Michelle in her usual pirate garb (ha ha, not really usual)...and our popcorn! We have no living room, so we just gather in one room and watch it on a laptop.
We watched Elizabeth Gaskell's "Wives & Daughters." It's fun to watch those kind of movies (like Pride & Prejudice) now that we are here....it's totally what it looks like here!

Oh, and P.S. We have been banned from the hospital, not to step foot in there again!

My favorite signs

It seems that there is never a day here in England when we don't find a new sign that we think is different, interesting, or just plain funny....I hope you enjoy these as much as we did. :)

This one was just interesting to me; it's taken on a door inside the women's restroom at the hospital. We asked someone what it was and they said it's a place for Muslims to ritually cleanse themselves before prayer. Cool, huh?

This one is on the road to Storthes Hall (where we live)...we think it is funny every time we pass it. Make sure you don't drive through this brick wall into the trickling stream on the other side!

Speed bumps...

Common sighting here in England (Queue = line). On one of our first days here, I had to stop and use an ATM. There were 2 of them, and all the other girls were just standing around waiting for me since they didn't need to use it. A woman came up and asked, "Are you queuin'? ("are ya 'q'-in'?") We were a little confused at first - like we always are when people here talk. ha ha :)

Another common sighting - instead of "for rent" they say "to let." It threw me off every time I saw it for quite a while...but I am finally used to it.

Yield

Ha ha!

This was found at the train station - I sure hope there are no plant movements!

Found this one in York...still don't really know what it means. Any one want to fill me in? I'd be much obliged. :)

We just really like this one...we see it all over!

Yet another great one

Their way of asking if you paid for parking and put your proof of payment in your window

And my personal favorite so far...

This was in the tower of the York Minster. Boy, I think I can honestly say, I've never seen a face quite like that on a public sign before! ha ha! :)

And a few more to add to the "British lingo" list:
"confectionary" = candy
"uni" (pronounced "you-nee") = university (they don't just say college, or school)
"Ta" = thanks, goodbye (kind of like "cheers;" I think it's pretty cute)
"skip" = dumpster (my nurse scraped the side of her car into one on her way home from work one day and took the door off her car - totalled her car! Sad!! - but a funny story!)

*They seem to dislike the word "the." It's always "I'm going to hospital," "She went to toilet," "I took shuttle bus," etc.
*Apparently "I" am plural! They like to switch "was" and "were" ALL THE TIME! "I were on the bus;" "It were brilliant;" - and you can go on and on!

I love how the fun never ends!

Fountains Abbey

We had quite the adventure on Saturday.

I've heard so much about this Fountains Abbey, and seen pictures of it, that I knew it was a place I wanted to visit while I was here. So I spent quite some time looking up the public transportation to get us there (which, by the way, is quite the maze). I wrote it all down (walk to bus stop, bus to town, train to Leeds, walk from train station to bus station, bus to Ripon, bus to Fountains Abbey) so things would run smoothly. I even checked the weather forecast to make sure it would be nice and sure enough, it said warm and sunny, with only 10% chance of rain. We're set, right?

So what do you think happened?
Yep....trouble. :)We left our flat at 7:30am, and leaving out most of the details, got to Fountains Abbey at 2:08pm (even though in a car, it would've taken about an hour or a little more). None of the public transportation actually coincides with the schedules they put online. Oh, ha ha. We just had to laugh about it and make the best of it. The picture above is on a bus ride from Leeds to Ripon - some slept, some read for homework, and I just stared out the windows at the most beautiful countryside I've ever seen! I'm overwhelmed by it...everytime! I think it's definitely one of my favorite parts of England!

In Ripon we had to wait an unexpected 2 hours for our next bus to Fountains Abbey, so we walked around this small-town carnival/festival and went to lunch in a lovely pub called Ye Hornblower Tavern. As we were getting ready to leave, a ton of people started coming in to sit/stand at the bar. Then we realized a football (soccer) game was just about to begin! ;)

Once we got on our Little Red Bus to Fountains Abbey (we realized we should've just walked, because it was only 2 1/2 miles away), it took us another 45 min to get there because of the insane route the bus driver had to take before getting to Fountains Abbey. We were out in the middle of nowhere, hitting towns with about 5 buildings in them, driving what felt like 70 mph on pretty much a one-lane road, over huge bumps and around sharp curves. It was hilarious! But the countryside was, once again.....BEAUTIFUL! I swear there are more sheep in this country than people! We even passed the Studley Royal Cricket Club, playing Cricket out in their all white outfits - very cool!

We finally got to Fountains Abbey and had the treat of our lives! It was worth it all!!

This was a monastery built by 13 Cisterian monks in 1132 and eventually became one of the richest abbeys in Europe. It actually has a really interesting history - if you'd like to read more, click here.

This place was super cool!!Its hidden in the most perfect little valley with trees, so that you you can't see out of it, and you can't see the abbey until you're in the valley. Its a little paradise down there! Boy, I would become a monk (yes, a monk, not a nun) JUST TO LIVE THERE!And if the Abbey itself isn't enough, there is a river that runs through the valley and there are trails to walk that are uber gorgeous (forgive the German)!

Oh, and guess what? It rained on us! And it only rained the short time we were at the Abbey. It was never a full-out down-pour, and I didn't mind the rain, it was just another thing to laugh about! :) Yeah, 10% chance, huh? This was from a viewpoint on one of the trails, overlooking a bend in the river and the Abbey way in the distance.

Since we didn't get there until 2:08pm, and the last bus out of there left at 3:47pm, we kind of had to do it all in fast forward:

Ooo, aww... click(picture) ... run ... WOW! ... click...run...click...COOL!... click ... run ... click ... run, etc.

But it was still totally worth it! If anyone is planning a trip to England, I would definitely recommend this little piece of heaven! (Just don't take public transportation, and plan for several hours or more to enjoy it) I absolutely loved it!