Hello!

I can’t believe I am writing about my experience of Science 3 already! This nursing journey is flying in!

We started our science module in September and have just completed our exam this week so it was a 7 week module in total. I am proud of my application to this module as it was a difficult few months since the passing of my beloved 2 doggies Star and Carina and getting Covid just as I was getting into the groove of this module. However I battled on and had their adorable photo right in front of me in my study space which kept me pushing on. ♥️

Module structure

So this is the start of my adult year. So the science module was all adult related science. The module worked really well, it was a little different to second year because we had the chance to have some on campus teaching and did more independent learning. I really liked the way it was taught. Each week we had a new topic which was taught via online which was good because you could listen back as many times as you would like to get the information to sink into your brain 🧠 , and then our tutorial classes were on campus and it involved answering some questions in groups. Flip classroom approach was used well in these classes which meant we would do some prep from home during our scheduled study time which allowed us to be ready to feedback on the questions and discussions in class. Personally I think this worked very well.

What we learnt

Just as I shared with you all last year in my blog about science 2 the learning involved learning about the pathophysiology, aetiology, signs and symptoms, diagnostic tools and pharmacology of the various health conditions.

Covid-19 – Ironically this was the week I had Covid so it was quite weird to be learning what was going on in my body and how it all had taken place. Although I was struggling with the brain fog, having covid had actually helped to remember some of the information I was learning like the signs and symptoms etc.

COPD

I enjoyed learning about COPD, I have always enjoyed learning about respiratory conditions. It is very much about the inflammatory response! During the time I was learning about COPD I had a bank HCSW shift where I was caring for an individual who had COPD, and because of my new knowledge I had identified the individual having exacerbated symptoms and was able to flag this up with the nurses.

We also learnt about Arterial blood gases/respiratory failure which was really interesting. I had had a bit of experiences with these in my placement at critical care but I learnt so much more about reading them and what the readings meant in this years science and a bit about compensation. It is a tricky concept to pick up but I took a lot of time to study them and find a way that worked for me. I have popped one of the books I found really helpful in my book recommendation section below.

Stroke

We learnt about the different types of stroke but the one we focussed most on was ischemic stroke. This was a lot about the knowledge of cellular hypoxia.

I learnt that the Symptoms very much depend on the length of time that the blood supply has been cut off for and it depends which artery in the brain has been affected as this will have an impact on the function of the part of the brain that the artery is supplying. This osmosis video was helpful for me to understand this one- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IgFri0B85Q

Heart Failure

This was all about pump failure. We also covered the compensatory mechanisms and how these compensatory mechanisms can in time make Heart failure worsen.

Liver disease

We learnt about the various types of liver disease. I was able to think back to an experience on one of my placements where I came across this conditions and the symtoms were very recognisable.

Medical emergency’s

We covered Acute kidney injury, Sepsis and diabetic ketoacidosis. We were familiar with sepsis and DKA but AKI was new. These topics will be helpful for my next placement!

It never fails to amaze me how fascinating these conditions are and how the body actually works!

We also learnt about: pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenetics which I also found extremely interesting. I have come away from this specific learning with fully appreciation of its importance within practice and good medication management. I had no idea that there was a set of enzymes (CYP450) that are responsible for the metabolism of the majority of drugs we administer in practice, and that genetic polymorphism effects these family of enzymes. People who have this genetic polymorphic disposition metabolise drugs in a different way compared to those who don’t have this genetic polymorphism.

We learnt about ethics and research 🔬🧐

We learnt about ethical principles/ ethical theories and applied them to the conditions we were learning about. We also learn about how to use an ethical decision making model.

Book recommendations

The Exam/final commments

Science is always the most intense module of the year as there is a lot to learn and take in, but each year it up’s it’s game and provides the baseline knowledge we need for the next steps in the course. I find it particularly helpful just before a placement. I have a habit of studying from crack of dawn until the early hours so I am glad to get to my bed at a decent hour now! 😆

The exam was over 3 hours long and was carried out from home which I think works really well. I think that the team were very kind to us in our exam. I just hope we have all done enough. I don’t know about my cohort but exams always leave me with a feeling of anticlimax afterward because you have been going like the clappers for weeks and then hours in the exam with the adrenaline pumping all around the body and then suddenly its done and the adrenaline starts to drain down and then your like now what? 😂

Wishing all the best to my cohort!

A big thank you to the team for their teaching in this module. I have very much enjoyed the learning!