Week 4 and 5!

Hey guys,

Things have been so busy the last week and hence the delay on this entry. I’ve now completed a week at the university, which was really interesting and a great way to meet other students, both international and Danish. I’ll tell you a little more shortly but first I would like to go over the week previous to this, which was my fourth and last week of my placement.

The whole four weeks shot past really quickly and came to an end successfully, with all my assessment documents (both Scottish and Danish) getting signed off and with my talk to the staff going really well. On reflection it was definitely one of my favourite placements areas I’ve worked in. This made me a little sad to leave although it has also encouraged me to consider working with children and adolescents in the future. On one of my final days the temperature hit 30 degrees, not normal at all for Denmark this time of year, and so the activity was changed to a huge water fight in the garden, which went down really well with the clients.

Within my talk I first gave an overview of mental health in Scotland, giving statistics as well as talking of my own experiences of working in different placement areas. I then spoke of the structure of the course at home and my experiences so far of studying mental health. People found this very interesting as there are many differences, for example student nurses in Denmark do not specialise until the very end of their training and have fewer yet longer placements. I also brought my portfolio and explained its uses as Danish students do not keep one. Staff found this interesting and thought it was a good system.

Whilst making comparisons between my experiences in both countries I found there were many similarities such as the core nursing roles, values and ethics underpinning practice, a multidisciplinary approach and many similar attitudes and approaches to student learning. I also discussed some of the main differences I have noted. For example the very organised approach to note keeping and medication administration. All records were documented digitally in a very organised manner, for example nursing notes are divided up into many different headings such as the behavioural, psychological, social and nutritional aspects to each clients care.

I also noted there is more resources available to mental healthcare here in Denmark. I thought it was amazing how on the ward there were sometimes four or five members of staff for around ten patients which gave more time for client contact. There were also many games, a full music room, art room, table tennis and table football tables, a trampoline, plenty of bikes and even some canoes for the clients to use. I must note however that I have never had firsthand experience of an adolescent psychiatric ward in Scotland and therefore these observations cannot be definite comparisons.

One more difference I have found is the policy on the use of force and restraints. Although the policy in both countries is very similar in the way that the use of force and restraints is a very last option and should be avoided wherever possible, the policy does differ. In Denmark restraint belts on hospital beds can be used as away to protect a person if they are deemed to be at considerable risk to themselves or others. After some discussion I understood that if a person is physically restrained by others there are times when a person can become more agitated by the intrusion of their personal space which can be a very precious commodity if someone is very mentally unwell. The belt then can therefore act in a way which protects the person whilst giving them their personal space and could have the possible advantage of less reliance on medication. However arguments against this could be that it is a more restrictive method and if a person is restrained by others there is the opportunity for the restrainers’ to use their closeness therapeutically through communication and touch. Luckily any form of restraint is very rarely used in Denmark and is avoided at all costs, giving patient freedom and choice wherever possible. However I found it a very interesting comparison between the two countries.

So finally this week at university has been really interesting. I am partaking in the first few classes of a module entitled Health in Nordic Countries and there are both international and Danish students. The Danish students have chosen to take the extra challenge to study in English and so are very eager to welcome and get to know us international students and there is a very warm, friendly atmosphere to the class. We have so far been making comparisons of different healthcare systems around Europe and have been studying about the major future challenges to the way healthcare will be delivered in Denmark. As to see some of the possible solutions to these challenges we will visit the Danish Technological institute to view some of the possible ‘welfare technology’ hoped to improve to standards and efficacy of the Danish Healthcare system in the future. I will take my camera and post the pictures on this blog.

So that’s everything for now, such a long entry, I guess it shows how busy I’ve been! J