kittya

after all that, weeks without a proper sleep and for what? can you believe it I PASSED MY FINAL ASSIGNMENT I might now rest easy (until starting final placement on monday that is.......)

The final assignment has been handed in!! felt all calm and relaxed about it for a week, then started having really odd dreams, in all of them I've failed the assignment and am looking at re-writing. These dreams are getting ridiculous, the other day I got up and was totally convinced I needed to start all over again........ I'm going quietly mad here with all the waiting for results!

First of all, have you claimed child tax credit? they won't pay anything towards child care costs to student nurses but you will be entitled to claim child tax credit. Not knowing your individual circumstance I don't know if this will be of any help but I found them something of a lifesaver! When I began my training my daughter was full time at local authority nursery and I applied to: Elizabeth Nuffield Educational Fund 28 Bedford Square London WC1B 3EG http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org and received a grant to help with two years childcare costs!! Nuffield provide grants to help women with the costs of childcare. There are strict conditions though (if they don't apply to you they may help someone else!) >applicants must be women aged between 25-50 >applicants must have been resident in the UK for 3 years or more >gross income must not exceed £16,500 per annum >children must be under 8 years of age and care must be provided by a registered childminder. As well as receiving a grant from this organisation I had my nursery fees reduced from the standard rate (after many visits to my MP and letters to the council), which eventually meant that the grant from Nuffield pretty much covered my childcare costs for the first two years of my course!. Good luck :)

whisper, I too have worked on placements with patients who are currently residing at HMP. (filling in admission forms is a scream sometimes, 'do you have stairs?, need help with the bath?' :chuckle ) First thoughts, good for you to provide a decent standard of care to this person when those around you seem unwilling. Did you raise this as an issue with the staff on the ward? They have no business judging a patient or altering care to suit their own prejudices. This type of action (or inaction) goes against everything we are taught and trained to do. We are there to provide the best possible care to patients in need, regardless of who that patient is, what they have done, what they may do in the future or what we think about them. I think you should mind 'doing bits for him' if you're doing it because nobody else will (as opposed to those busy time when all hands on deck etc,). Your colleagues are being unprofessional and unethical and you are maybe letting them get away with it by doing their work for them. (oh is that a bit strong?) :zzzzz