Coming back to the ward after the weekend felt like weeks had past since I have been there. It might sound strange but I had already missed my placement. I spent the weekend talking Dutch because of my Belgian visit and it took me a few hours to get used to hearing Swedish again. During my second week of placement the ward itself felt less like a strange place and finding my way in the hospital got better day by day. After having observed the tasks of the nurses I started doing more hands on an independent preparatory work (mainly medication). I got more familiar with the different protocols such as the routine for incoming/outgoing patients, medication and examinations. The use of different equipment for heart monitoring went better as well. I got the opportunity to explore the units’ documentation program for patients’ files on calmer days. This made it a lot easier to remember patients background information compared to oral briefings even though the documentation was done in Swedish.
On Friday there were questions hung up all over the unit for a nursing quiz arranged by the Vårdförbundet union. This unions represents different types of health care professions including nursing. I thought this was a fun initiative as there were some interesting questions not only I but also experienced nurses had no answers to. This quiz was unannounced but it remined me on the evening before where I participated in another quiz.
The evening before I want to an event organised by the exchange ambassadors of Gothenburg University. This event was for GU students going on an exchange and exchange students coming in from abroad. I got the chance to meet students from all over the world and answer questions students had about Belgium. After some mingling we were well provided of food (to my surprise there was a good and delicious amount of vegan food – kudos to the organizers and University!) and played a fun quiz (in small groups) that brought out the competitive side of me. Considering the quiz existed of questions attenders came up with, it encouraged all of us to have a talk with others and I’m glad it did. My group ended up being second but the prize was the same as the first place so I didn’t mind after all. In fact, I will never forget that there are 54 official countries in Africa....
(the question we got wrong).
During the weekend I had one shift left on Sunday. Luckily the weather was pretty nice for a spring day in Sweden and I went for fika with a lovely nursing student who is going on an exchange to Belgium in the month of December. So far I had only had fika at my placement and having it during free time made me enjoy it even more.
It happened to the national day of the “chokladbollar”, of course I had to try them out. The verdict: I’ve been missing out on such a simple and delicious snack! Something I’d definitely try to recreate when back in Belgium.