End of Week 9...

Week 9 in Umeå was another really enjoyable one! I continued with my own patients and was given the responsibility of some more challenging situations which were brilliant learning experiences. The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous, sunny, clear skies and temperatures of up to 32 degrees.

I feel as though my therapeutic relationships with service users are really coming along as well as my relationships with other team members - nurses and MDT members which is making this an even more enjoyable working experience.

I have also been involved in some admin which is done here to ensure patient safety and quality control which has been really interesting. I have picked up some good practice which exists here which I am very keen to bring home with me to Scotland and share with colleagues.

At the weekend I spent time in the sun as well as spending time with a friend who is a psychology student here, which again is a great opportunity to find out more about the Swedish healthcare system in an informal way. 

On Sunday Helena and I went to the beach to go swimming which was amazing! swimming in the sea surrounded by forest and trees. I am continuously getting the chance to do new things and live typically "Swedish".

This week my friend, Emma is coming to visit which I am very excited for. Today we also arranged for me to spend a day next week at the methadone clinic here, I have had short experience of the way this works in Scotland, so again I am interested to compare the two.

Julie :)

End of Week 8....

I have now completed week 8 of 13 here in Umeå and I'm starting to fear the the countdown is on for coming home...

I now feel very settled into my wee life here and really enjoying it. This week at work I continued on the out-patient unit and at the inpatient ward where I continued with medicine administration and building upon therapeutic relationships. I've also spent more time studying both Scottish & Swedish mental health law and comparing these too.

This week I also flew to Stockholm for 24 hours where I met my dad and his partner. Stockholm was amazing - but I experienced a bit of a culture shock, within a culture shock. Stockholm is so busy and vast compared to Umeå. It was so good to see the capital city and all it has to offer. Although I was only there for 24 hours I managed to get a lot done!

On Saturday night I went swimming in the lake as the weather here has continued to be amazing! My father and his partner then came to Umeå and met me here too. It has been great to spend time with family as I have not seen them in such a long time. Although this entire experience is flying in! I cant quite believe I've been here 8 full weeks already!

I've attached a video link for a brilliant video! ... Just like in Scotland, here in Sweden there is a major shortage of nurses. Although, unlike in Scotland, this is because there simply are not enough nurses in Sweden to fill the jobs, as opposed to Scotland where due to lack of money there simply aren't enough nursing positions within the NHS. 
Anyway, the hospital I'm working at is a massive university hospital which meets the needs of the majority of Northern Sweden. The staff on the ortho ward decided to make a promo video to try and get nurses to apply for the jobs they are struggling to fill. I think this video is amazing. It was filmed in the real ortho ward and all the people in it are real staff, even the hospital manager features. The song is in Swedish but the lyrics basically say "we really need nurses, we're a brilliant team, come and work with us please!" Enjoy....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbDW4He3jUg


Another busy week at work starting tomorrow.

Julie :)  

End of Week 7...

This week on placement I continued working between the out-patient rehab unit and the in-patient ward. I also took part in out-patient medicine administration. This was an interesting experience to compare this service to ones at home. Unlike at home, the healthcare system no longer uses Kardex's or written notes as all record keeping is done one the computer on a shared system. I find this to be a far more efficient method of storing records as everything is on a central system and locating previous notes is incredibly easy.

On Friday afternoon I also had the opportunity to visit a supported accommodation unit. This supported accommodoation was relatively new so everything was of very high spec. Every person's room reflected their personal interests and character. It was very person-centred and really interesting to see.

On Friday night I spent time with Helena as the weather has been so good here! and we went to a bar in the city centre. On Saturday I spent most of the day relaxing and sunbathing and on Saturday night I visited the lake again.

Week 8 begins tomorrow and this week I am going to visit Stockholm!

Julie :)

End of week 6...

Last week i continued work on the in-patient substance misuse ward. I am beginning to get the hang of the routine and running of the ward now and I'm continuing with medicine preparation and administration.

I also spent time on the out-patient unit continuing to work with my existing patients and this week I met with a new patient to obtain the service-user's perspective of mental health care here in Sweden. This was a really interesting opportunity to hear about this patients experiences with mental health services: what was good and what was not so good about his experience. I also used this opportunity to find out what nursing skills and approaches this service user felt were necessary to build a therapeutic relationship built upon trust. This gave me further insight into the massive impact we, as mental health professionals can have on a person's life and their recovery.

This week I also booked a short trip to visit Stockholm for one night where I will meet my dad and his partner, which I am really looking forward to.

On Saturday I spent the day enjoying the sun here in Umea as the weather has been gorgeous this weekend. On Saturday night I went to a BBQ by the lake with some people I have met over facebook. It was great to meet new people and socialise.

Today I am spending some time catching up on reading and later this evening I am going for dinner to a new friends house.

Start of a new working week tomorrow!

Julie :)

End of Week 5...

Week 5 was another brilliant week in Umeå !

I spent more time this week meeting with more patients with my mentor and on my own. I am continuing to work through medicine evaluations with service-users in order to assess the positive effect of their medication and any possible side effects they may be experiencing, whilst measuring their vital signs.

 

I am beginning to build therapeutic relationships with my own patients now which I am really enjoying.

On Friday I spent time with the lead Occupational Therapist at the OT department. This was a really interesting experience. Most of the assessment tools used are very similar to that at home. Most of the duties of the OT’s here involve supporting out-patients, however, within this municipality, there are also OT’s who work with in-patients, and some who work directly with “youths”: people aged 18-25. There is also an OT at the equivalent of the Job Centre.

The occupational health department is an entire department purely for the work of occupational therapists. Within this department is several meeting rooms, as well as a large kitchen, an arts and crafts room and even a woodwork workshop. As well as providing therapeutic activities, this use of space is also a great environment for the occupational therapists to be able to effectively assess service user’s ability to carry out these tasks and level of functioning.

Also this week within the city centre of umeå was the Swedish Beachball Tour. An area of the city centre was turned into a beachball stadium and over the course of the week a tournament took place from 9am-9pm. The weather was nice last week too which made it even better!

 

I am continuing work in the rehab outpatient unit as well as spending morning shifts on the inpatient ward and I’m enjoying the variation!

 

I’ve also enjoyed some really nice cycles this week and managed to get some beautiful photos which I will upload ASAP.

 

Julie J

End of Week 4...

I have now completed week 4 here in Umea

On Monday afternoon, Helena and I visited a community mental health team named “TIPS” which is early intervention for first episode psychosis. This community mental health team are based in a large house in the community. This type of environment seemed to me to be very relaxing and therapeutic and therefore a really interesting use of space. TIPS are often used for various types of therapies including family therapy. The environment was bright and spacious and very “non-clinical”. Most referrals to this team are made by the mental health A&E department as it is crucially important to begin care interventions as soon as possible after first episode psychosis. As it is in a large house, there is also a kitchen which can be used by service-users, garden space, and large sitting rooms for relaxing, as well as other rooms containing space for tables, chairs and flip charts used during therapy. TIPS appeared to be entirely person-centred and recovery-focussed and my visit there was thoroughly worthwhile.

On Tuesday, I spent the day at the mental health A&E department. I spent most of my time with the lead nurse and ward manager, Erik. We spent the day by the phone which is very similar to NHS 24, however, set up specifically for mental health crisis and emergencies. People can also call this line if they simply wish to discuss their concerns with a professional or have a chat. This was a really interesting experience as nothing this specific exists within Scotland, the closest thing is our crisis teams, however, it was really motivating to see mental health and illness dealt with in the exact same way as physical health and illness. This was also a really unique opportunity as I was able to understand more about the process of mental health law here in Sweden as several of the calls we received resulted in communicating with key workers, consultants and the police to ensure the safety of service-users and consequently resulted in the use of “LPT” which is similar to the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act.

On Wednesday morning I spent time on the in-patient ward. This in-patient ward is for the care and treatment of people who are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol. As previously mentioned, drug and alcohol addiction are included in Swedish mental health law and therefore in-patient treatment for these illnesses within the mental health care sector are the norm. On the ward I was able to participate in the medicine round including morning meds and vitamin B12 injections. All record keeping here is done on a computer system, including drug Kardex’s. Which seems like a far more convenient and safe way of keeping records.

Wednesday was a half day for Helena and I as it was my birthday! We finished on the ward at 12pm and had lunch; we then went into town to do a bit of shopping! Helena knitted a beautiful scarf for my birthday and gave me some home-made lavender soap. After shopping, we met another friend, Stina and we went for the best sushi I have ever had in my life! It was delicious!

Later, Helena and I went to the airport to pick up my boyfriend, Gavin, who is here to visit for two weeks. Gav brought with him lots of birthday cards and gifts from my family and friends at home, I felt very lucky!

This weekend here in Sweden has been “Mid-Summer Weekend”. Midsummer celebrates the longest day of the year and it’s a very long-standing tradition here. Traditionally it is a fertility celebration of the animals on the land, it is said that at mid-night on mid-summers eve everything comes to life. I spent mid-summer at Stina’s house with Helena, Gav and Stina’s family. Mid-Summer traditions also include a lot of eating and a lot of drinking! We had a BBQ and tried to some Swedish delicacies including different flavours of pickled herring, which we really enjoyed, and shots of “Schnapps” which is Swedish herbal liquor. There is also a traditional song which is sung before drinking the schnapps, it was so great to see and experience a real Swedish tradition. Stina’s house also has a Sauna, which seems to be pretty standard for the Swede’s. Gav and the men spent time in the sauna before eating. Later on we played “Kubb” which is a traditional Swedish game, where you are divided into two teams; the object of the game is to knock over the other team’s wooden blocks, using a wooden baton. By this point, everyone had had a few drinks too so there was a lot of laughs during this and we really enjoyed it! It is also a mid-summer tradition for girls to wear flowers in their hair, and at midnight on mid-summer ever, she is to give the flowers to her one true love, and this will secure their love forever. Helena made me my very own flower arrangement for my hair which I will attach a photograph of. We also had a “may-pole” which is put up for mid-summer and traditional is danced around to celebrate the fertility and “coming alive” of the wildlife and animals. We did not do the dancing around the pole, but it was great to see how this tradition is done. On Saturday we had a pretty lazy day, all exhausted from Fridays celebrations. Mid-summer was without doubt the best day I have had here in Sweden so far!

On Saturday night Gav and I enjoyed a good cycle along the river, I’ll attach a short video.

Beginning of a new working week tomorrow. Will update as and when. Apologies this entry was so long, but it was quite an eventful week!

Photos attached. Julie :)

End of Week 3...

I am now at the end of my third week here in Umeå...

I've had another busy, but brilliant week. On placement this week I began my first appointments with my own patients. It was great to finally get started on this and book future appointments. This is the first time, in a community setting I have had the opportunity to build my own therapeutic relationships which is something I'm really looking forward to. My own patients are happy to communicate with me in English, some of my mentor's patients aren't so confident in this. However, I have also found this to be very valuable: as I am unable to understand their verbal communication, and them mine, I have appreciated this to be a truly unique opportunity in which to build upon my non-verbal communication skills. Not only am I able to authentically assess the service-user's non verbal communication, but I too am able to assess my own non-verbal communication and how this reflects my attitude, skills and practice to the service-user. I have to constantly mindful of my own non-verbal communication to ensure I am reflecting myself well as a mental health practitioner.

I also spent a morning this week on the in-patient ward. As this is where the majority of my experience has been in Scotland, this was a fantastic opportunity to compare practice between the two country's. I only got a snapshot at some of the work done here, but as the weeks continue I will be spending more time on this unit. 

I also had my first visitor from home this week - my lecturer, Lesley. It was really good to see a familiar face and spend time with her on practice. Picture to follow!

Yesterday, Helena took me with her and her friends to a summer party BBQ. Here I met a lot more Swedish people. Helena's friend gave me a tour of her house, which was very unique and typically "Swedish". Out in the middle of no where with plenty of land and loads of space. The homes here are generally a lot bigger than at home, and more open planned. Having green space around your home seems to be important to the Swede's and seems like such a brilliant way to live. Being so close to the city yet feeling a million miles away. After the BBQ, they started several party games. I didn't get involved in this as there were so many people there, but it was great to watch and see how family and friends gatherings here are done. Generally speaking it was different from what I'm used to in Glasgow! I will attach a video of one of the games where balls are placed on the grass, and players must cover there faces with just a small hole to look through and be the first to find the balls. 

After this, we went back to another friend of Helena's and drank some wine and enjoyed good conversation. Here we discussed more about the societal differences between Sweden and Scotland and this proved to be really interesting for me! Just small differences, but that would make a difference to our daily lives. 

I have always admired Scandinavia's social and political policy for example higher taxes, fairer society generally by way of education and welfare. While I still believe this to be true, I have learned that social interaction and way of life here is different from what I am used. Last night's conversations reinforced my life-long love for Scotland, and in particular Glasgow as a friendly, inclusive city where often you can truly be yourself, celebrate your success with people and drown your sorrows with them also. I appreciate even more now how friendly a city Glasgow is. 

Anyway, I can feel myself rambling a bit here and don't want to bore my loyal readers! 

Start of another working week tomorrow and the arrival of my second visitor which I am very excited for!

Julie :)