nurse blog

As the population ages, chronic diseases become more prevalent and doctors will usually prescribe medications to improve the quality of life for the patient. Medications have now become an essential component of modern healthcare, and nursing practice. While the nurse rarely prescribes medications, they spend a considerable amount of time administering them to their patients. I've compiled this list of common medications terms nurses may encounter during their practice. Remember, it is always important to understand the…

An imperforate hymen is a congenital disorder I which the hymen completely occludes the vaginal opening. It is one of the most common female genital tract malformations, occurring in approximately 1 in 2000 girls3. The condition arises due to a failure of the hymen to perforate during fetal development. The condition commonly goes unnoticed until adolescence when the girl passes the age of menarche5 and has not had a period (amenorrhea). Menstrual blood cannot flow freely from the vagina and backs up in the vagina…

Hematometra, otherwise known as hemometra is a condition in which blood is collected and retained in the uterus, commonly the result of an imperforate hymen or transverse vaginal septum. The physical obstruction of menstrual blood from the uterus causes a significant back up of menstrual blood over time, which can cause the uterus to enlarge, putting pressure on other pelvic organs, similar to in the case of hematocolpos. For this reason, the condition tends to worsen to longer the patient prolongs seeking medical…

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) - also known as Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (COLD) - is a chronic inflammation of the lungs that causes obstruction of airflow1 and ineffective airway clearance. It is commonly caused by distinct disease processes such as Emphysema and Chronic Bronchitis. COPD is generally caused by long-term exposure to irritating gasses or particulate matter such as those produced by cigarette smoke1. Asthma: Also known as Chronic Reactive Airway Disease is characterised by…

I’m into my fourth week of nursing school and so far I’m absolutely loving it. I find myself almost sad to be heading home at the end of the day, as well as constantly craving more knowledge. For the first time in my study life, I actually find myself reading the text books religiously, even when it's not even required. I find myself occupying my spare time with… strangely enough… more studying. It’s like I need to keep learning as much as I can. While it seems unusual I’m sure I’m going to look back on this in a few…

So it's the first day of the new semester and so far it's not going so well. First I managed to catch the wrong bus, but it's all good, I still managed to get to uni on time, a good 45 minutes before my first lecture is set to start. So feeling excited and refreshed by the smelter break, I decided to rock up nice and early and secure a prime position in the lecture hall. I grab some breakfast from the vending machine (a succulent mars bar), plow through it and double check the lecture hall on my timetable. Yup, I'm in…

Yesterday was certainly an interesting day. I only had one class, Bioscience, but it was an incredible experience nonetheless. I should warn any of you that are a little squeamish; you might want to skip over this one. I started out on Tuesday night not feeling all too well and contemplating not attending the practical class the next day, but only due to a quiz at the end of the class worth a mere 3% (I know it's not much but every mark is a good mark, right?) I decided it would be best for me to attend. It turned out to…

The young team of Franziska Hildebrand, Franziska Preuss, Vanessa Hinz and Dahlmeier clocked 1 hour, 11 minutes, 54.6 seconds to beat France

I’m sure many of you know the feeling, you cram in any study you can into any spare second of the day, cramming as much as you can. You stay up late studying, getting as little sleep every night as you dare to get away with. You rock up at Uni on the day feeling confident, tired, but confident nonetheless. You get in there and you’re pumped! You totally got this. You’ve studied everything you could get your hands on. This is it… exam time, you psych yourself up. You get the exam paper, it's a little thicker than you…

So this is it, I’m in! I officially accepted the offer and I begin studying in late February. I have to admit I was a little unsure if this is the right choice, or if I’ve just made a terrible mistake, and destroyed my own future in the Film Industry. For now, we won’t know, but I have finished enrolling into my classes and looks like I’m at Uni every day of week, which doesn’t seem too bad until you factor in the 3 hour commute one way. Thursdays will be hard, I’m at uni for 12 hours straight, so that’s definitely going…