What our students say
Sarah Ames, 27, learning disabilities nursing student - on her choice of learning disability nursing as a career and her experiences of the course
What attracted you to learning disability nursing and to this course?
“Two years ago I left my office job to work abroad and was placed in a school for children with learning disabilities. After three months there, I decided I wanted to make this my full-time career. Back in the UK, I saw an advert in the local paper for an open day at the Faculty, so I came along to speak to the tutors to find out more about the course. I ended up applying that day.
“The interview day was a good chance to meet others and talk about our different experiences, and during my one-to-one interview the tutors were ready to answer any questions I had. As I already had a degree, I was able to apply for the accelerated programme which meant I could go straight into the second year of the course. For the first six weeks we had additional lectures to cover some of the work that had been done in the first year.
“It’s a shame that learning disability nursing seems to be one of the less popular branches of nursing - there are only seven of us in my year. On the plus side, this means that we really get the most out of our lectures, and the teaching can go at the right pace for everyone. I’ve found the level of support from lecturers really good.
“Before I saw the advert in the paper I didn’t realise that learning disability nursing was a branch of nursing that you could study, but if anyone is considered a career in healthcare I would definitely recommend looking into it.”
Sarah's student diary - at university and on placement
At university: Monday
“First thing this morning we had a maths recap session. We had some drug calculations to prepare before the session, and then went through the answers and working out process. The lecturer also gave us his phone number in case we had any questions that he didn’t get a chance to answer.
“We then had our last lecture in the module ‘Assessment and Practice of Care Needs’. This focused on assessing clients and discussing who in the multi-disciplinary team could be asked to help them. We’d all prepared a patient scenario that we presented to the others in the class. As there are only seven of us this usually takes the form of a discussion, which is very helpful as you get to see things you may have missed that others have picked up on. We also went through the criteria for our next essay assignment with the lecturer, who made sure that we had all our questions answered.”
At university: Tuesday
“This is our last week of lectures before going out on placement, so we have a couple of days of skills practice scheduled. These skills sessions are usually fun and are a good way of building up our confidence before we go out into practice. For the first couple of hours this morning we went over basic CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), blood glucose monitoring, TPR (temperature, pressure, respiration) and blood pressure.
“The last session of the day was on feeding difficulties, with a community dysphagia (swallowing difficulty) team who came in to work with us. We had to help each other to eat and drink, and experience what it’s like to be both the giver and receiver of care.”
On placement: Tuesday
“My placement is in a home for seven people with severe learning disabilities and complex health needs. A lot of the work we do involves personal care and therapies inside the home. The residents also have timetables of activities that they attend elsewhere. Today I went with two of the residents to their hydrotherapy session. Both are wheelchair users and have limited use of their arms. Working with a therapist and a support worker, the warmth of the pool and the buoyancy of the water allowed their muscles and limbs to ease up so they could really stretch out. It was amazing to see the difference being in the pool made to their mobility, and was lovely to watch them enjoying the exercises and the interaction.
“The therapist came back to the house after the swimming session to work with the other residents. I sat in on a massage session, and was able to help with some of the basic massage techniques. The resident we were working with can be quite vocal and has little use of her limbs, but during the session she was very relaxed. As with the hydrotherapy in the morning, it was great to see first hand the benefits the sessions bring to the residents. Although people may not think of hydro and aromatherapy as nursing interventions, the benefits that these bring to some people cannot be underestimated.”
On placement: Saturday
“I managed to do quite a bit of clinical work today with one of the residents, which I really enjoyed. She's ‘nil by mouth’ and has all her food, liquid and medicine fed directly into her stomach through a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube. Today I was able to administer all her medicines this way, set up her food and give her the required liquid intake throughout the day. She’s unable to talk and instead communicates through facial expressions and squeezing your hand if she’s happy. As I'd built up a good relationship with her during my time at the house, I was able to tell she was happy with me helping her in this way and that she was comfortable with what I was doing.
“The patient was also suffering with a chest infection, and had been prescribed medication through a nebuliser. She seemed to be coughing a lot today, so with the help of the nurses on duty, we decided to give her the nebuliser twice during my shift. I was able to set it up and administer the medication, which was a good exercise for me. By the time my shift ended she seemed to be breathing slightly better. Hopefully she’ll continue to improve throughout the night.”
Adult nursing
- Rose McGuire, graduate
- Claire Smitheram, graduate
- Sophie Wismer, first year student
- Cassia Lim, third year student (video)
Children's nursing
- Jodian Barrett, third year student
- Jodian Barrett, third year student (video)
- Beverley Haffenden, second year student (video)
