MINE Evaluation

On a personal note I would like to start by saying that the MINE project was one of the most inspiring and enjoyable of my life. Not only was it an academic enriching experience, but it was also a social programme which helped us merge together. Therefore I do feel the necessity to express my grattitude towards both the organisers of the MINE project, but also towards the participants who likewise made this course a success, which not only met, but exceeded by far my expectations.

MINE appraisal

During the MINE programme various issues were researched and tackled. First of all, we identified different methods of teaching and learning at our different Universities. As a summary, while we found there are some differences in our methods, ultimately each of us could work as a nurse effictively in every country, since all of us finally target the patient's well-being. However, partner countries do exercise different methods of teaching, and no specific one can be said to be the right one. As a matter of fact, our discussed points might have revealed aspects which would strengthen the education system of each country. Of course a point of suggestion would be that of making our work available to other universities, to evaluate what can be improved in each education system, both for the benefit of the students, and patients.

One aspect of the MINE which has left an impact on me, was the social aspect of the programme. Although we were nurses from six different countries, we managed not only to produce an excellent piece of work, but we have merged together, socially and academically as one; regardless of our teaching systems. This aspect is particularly relevant in both today and the future, where hospitals in different countries are becoming multinational in staffing. The MINE programme gave us excellent insight and training, on how as near future nurses, irrispective of our education systems, cultures etc. we can function as one, towards the benefit of a single goal, in this case the patient. This could be a perfect insight on how hospital management could adopt similar systems, to bring together nurses working in a ward irrispective of their country of origin. With this project, as a cohesive force we managed to split the work, and merge the work together: this led us to not only learn from each other, but at the same time it was effective to reduce our burnout. As a result I think that MINE goes beyond helping students on an ERASMUS exchange.

MINE also focussed upon mentoring. Both students and mentors learned about mentoring strategies, both by interacting socially, and as well by the research done. In light of this, I feel that I acquired new knowledge regarding mentoring, that I will treasure and utilise with my nursing students. It is my opinion that the benefitx of this programme will not only be reflected towards the 45 or so participants, but one has to look at the broader picture. Most of these participants will have students to mentor, and will pass effectively this knowledge by the way they mentor. As a result, one participant can instil this knowledge to several students, and hopefully the students to others when they become nurses.

Another aim of the MINE project was to gather knowledge regarding the education systems of our different countries. Similarities and differences were examined, evaluated, discussed, and in the end were put on the wiki page which offers a myriad of useful knowledge to prospective ereasmus students. Furthermore a forum has been now created, which allows prospective students to actively discuss and post the queries. Other students from other countries, may then reply back with their answer. Furthermore other students have the liberty to post what they think is relevant themselves in the forum, inputting their own tips to other students. Additionally MINE informs its participants about ERASMUS, and thus allows the participants to interact, promote and aid students planning an ERASMUS in their country. Moreover us as students, we can work forward to bridge any gaps that exist between countries' education systems.

Methods of Learning

I must say that I was not very familiar with the learning approaches the MINE used. Internet use, and using it as a communication tool is somewhat still in the beginning from where I come. MINE utilised accessible modern tools of technology such as facebook, to make us familiarize with each other. The social network was indeed put to excellent use when it comes to 'social'. All of us had an idea of each other before we actually met. I think that facebook was sort of an icebreaker which got us to know each other. As MINE progressed, we continued to make furthur use of facebook both for academic and social use. It had become, and to some way still is a link between us all, independant from where we are, and is accessible everytime. It is my opinon that moving forward towards internet technology is the step which needs to be adopted by the education systems. As developed EU countries we should make use of such technology so that every country shares its own systems together. This is not only useful in education but also in nursing. Nursing is an ever evolving profession, requiring not only intensive studying, but also development during the profession itself. It is not something static, like say law, but it is dynamic, and as a result a fast, accessible tool such as internet can be utilised to share information between partner countries. Hopefully as we all become professionals this link will still be accessible, and policies, practices, and nursing perspectives can be discussed between us, even as we work in different countries.

Blogging, is in a way a method of reflection. A reflection can be done in several ways. Most of the times as human beings, we reflect upon an incident or an experience without even thinking about it. (Hopefully) it is in human nature to become better and improve. However with blogging there is an added benefit that self reflection can never achieve. With blogging, reflection of an experience is made available to others. I am quite sure that every individual, even more so every practice nurse will each time have something worth reflecting about. Sometimes this event may be of interest to other nurses. Sharing of an experience is ultimately a gift, which needs to be utilised to its maximum potential. A reflection is after all an evaluation which has recommendations for future improvement. As a result blogging can be a powerful tool in the nursing profession, and I am postive that if utilised correctly, it might well be the best continuous development of a nurse.

A digital story is in itself a video which is most often short, but that which carries a message, or knowledge to an audience. While all of the information can be presented as text, a digital video makes the learning experience 'entertaining' to the individual's brain. The use of pictures, and voice, generally reduces the number of words, which at length can make the message ineffective and boring to the reader. With a digital story we managed to pass bulk of relevant information in just a few minutes, however adding the presentation effect, making the reader interested in seeing the multimedia as well as recieving the message. In a world where everything is moving fast, presentation, and being concise are key points which are very relevant. A connection to the nursing field would be creating digital videos in order to deliver health promotion to the public.

MINE was all about sharing experiences, through information gathered by several participants. One innovative and student empoworing approach that struck out was the fact that everybody was considered as being a teacher, and everybody was considered to be a learner. In a world where infromation is all around us, makes it possible for different people to access the information, learn, and transmit to others, such as happened in MINE. Rather than the information being stored in 'one brain' the information was collected from every participant, and then from every group, together finally reaching our aim to gather information in particular. As a result nowadays a concept of knowing how to search, identify and extract correct and relevant information should in my opinion be part of a university student's syllabus.

MINE was delivered in a system of patches. These in my opinion helped to structure the information that was required from us. Breaking a task down into points or steps may help by giving individuals a more constructive approach towards the research, while at the same time avoiding to overwhelm them. This might have given us participants a clearer picture of what was required, but at the same time we were able to better plan our time, reducing unecessary stress which would have been if a complex one page question was asked, as it is conventionally the case in many systems.

In conclusion I would like to say that MINE was an innovative inspiring learning and social experience to myself. Not only did it give me insight on other countries, but it helped me develop on a personal level, and on a professional level which also leads to education of student nurses in future. Furthermore it provided a broader picture on how ultimately education systems in Europe are coming closer together. MINE approach also should be a stepping stone towards professionals and hospitals to share experiences, protocols, policies, and approaches accross Europe; and whilst becoming similar in our care, we provide improvement strategies to each other, growing not only as a country but also as a unioin of countries in what concerns healthcare.

MINE Finland 2.0

While both time and days are dashing forward, new areas and experiences are being uncovered. While on most occasions most of us will have a smile that stretches widely across their face, on all occassions each experience is an opportunity to learning.

Team Building

Although we all might origin from different backgrounds, social activities organised help for team building. One may mention the meal we had at Kankaanpaa, which was an opportunity for us all to bond better with each other. As a matter of fact, as the days progressed a feeling of bond between each other could be felt, and it is only growing stronger.

As more hospitals are recruiting nurses from foreign countries, this approach of using social and leisure activities to build a strong bond between the team may be useful in a broader sense. This may also be used in local hospital were the majority of nurses would belong to the hospital's own country. Such approach, as adopted within this intensive course has been studied in hospitals. Social activities, according to a study by Kowalski et al. (2010), helps in reducing burnout and emotional stress. The same study also links to other studies which introduce the idea of 'Social Capital' whereby it has a focus on the idea of the wellbeing of staff members within an institution (Ref: Christoph Kowalski, Oliver Ommen, Elke Driller, Nicole Ernstmann, Markus A Wirtz, Thorsten Kohler and Holger Pfaff, (2010). Burnout in nurses - the relationship between social capital in hospitals and emotional exhaustion. Journal of Clinical Nursing 19, 1654-1663).

Digital Stories

During the past few years (although in Malta it happened quite recently), nursing and medical teaching methods have moved from the behaviourist approach to that of reflective practice. Many researchers seem to have found extended benefits with reflective practice, amongst them being Moon (2005), who describes reflection as being a tool to help the learner make sense of his experiences and develop an enhanced meaning and learning.

Reflective practice is contantly used, and with experience this may even become subconscious, however every nurse in practice should evaluate and reflect upon his or her own experiences and be able to accomodate new knowledge.

Digital story telling involves the creation of a story with the usage of multimedia tools, and may involve narration, writing, pictures, or videos with the aim of delivering a message and stimulate reflection. Barett (2006) considers digital story telling as a motivating strategy which makes reflection more visible, tangible and entertaining. Sanders (2008), offers a useful description of what digital stories should include.

The digital stories topics were handed to us, and as being group 2 myself, we immediately started to work. It did not take long before we started to plan on what should we include, and how to go about it, of course focussing at the end product, while liasing with the other groups for the final end product. Language, was a minor difficulty, however it seemed that as we felt more comfortable excellent ideas were starting to crop up, and as we shared these, we are as we speak on our way forward towards creating our own digital story, retrieving information, while communicating with each other. As a reflection upon this, it is my opinion that even though we are students, we can offer a product that is useful even for qualified nurses. This can furthur motivate us to seek relevant information while enhancing our end product. Furthermore digital stories and the ability to reflect and find information might be a step forward to make an individual think, and be able to learn himself, and transmit knowledge.

A sample of some digital stories can be found here:

http://milehighstories.com/?page_id=21

Although these digital stories do not make use of video, the images used are effective, and the narration is short, concise and calm, which helps deliver a message. These digital stories all tell an event of some kind, however each of them is actually a reflection of an experience.

Ref:

Moon, (2004). Handbook of reflective and experiential learning, a: theory and practice. Routledge Falmer, Abingdon.

Barrett, (2006). Researching and evaluating digital storytelling as a deep learning tool. [Retrieved from: helenbarrett.com/portfolios/SITEStorytelling 2006.pdf].

Sanders, J. (2008). Twelve tips for using digital storytelling to promote reflective learning by medical students. Medical Teacher, 30, 774-777.

Finland and MINE!

I was excited by the time I arrived in Finland. The white snow was simply an experience, even though it was accompanied by a novel temperature below zero! The scene was pictoresque, however I might add that no artist could depicit the exact beauty that was indeed present.

Multi-National interaction:

I might have expected as a Maltese to find our group to somewhat differ in customs to our European neighbours. This preassumption was easily shattered once I got to know the other students, and it was astonishin how close and global European culture has become. Most have the same food, same clothes, same manners and similar expectations. Furthermore we were all studying nursing, which made this experience even more common to us all. I have to say that it was a fantastic experience to socialise with foreign students in a foreign country. Even though from different background including language, we all managed to communicate effectively and work with each other well. As a result this provides students and mentors alike some experience which we may use should we ever decide to work in a foreign country in Europe.

First day and hospital tour:

The first day was basically all about orientation. We got to meet other students and mentors, both by class introductions and by activities which were organised in the gym. I considered these exercises as ice breakers: to laugh with each other (and at each other), while getting to know each other in a social manner. In nursing practice, while working on wards, we might all need something of this sort to sometimes relieve ourselves from work stress, which is ever present. In the afternoon, all participants in MINE were taken to see a typical Finnish hospital, in this case the Satakunta hospital in Pori. I could immediately create a mental picture and point out a couple differences when compared to our local hospital. First of all, everything seemed to be organised and calm, unlike the usual hectic scene I am used to back in Malta. This might be due to the fact that the hospital in Pori caters for less people than that of my home country, where we have one general hospital for almost half a million people.

One of the Maltese group observed that Finnish nurses wore sandals rather than shoes in their practice. While this in Finland was common practice, back in our country we wear shoes provided by the hospital which are supposed to be safety shoes. I took the freedom to look at literature to have an insight on what it suggested. Manheim (2011), suggests that ideal nursing shoes should be made from rubber, since this provides comfort especially when worn for extended time frames, avoids slipping on liquids that might be on the ward, but at the same time being impermeable to spillage of fluids. In our country we adopt this system, and most healthcare professionals abide by it since there is a valid rationale supporting it.

Another difference was that nurses in Pori hospital had a standard policy of what Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to wear in case of infectious patients. In every case, nurses wore aprons, gloves and an N95 mask, regardless of what the risk was. In Malta there is no existing policy, other then that wearing aprons and gloves when in contact with these sort of patients. Indeed, there is in my opinion a lack of knowledge when it comes to decide in what instances a nurse should wear a mask. Moreover it is my belief that a mask when unecessary, may cause some apprehension for the patients. Therefore, I would educate nurses better on instances when a mask should be worn, since most isolated patients do not require a nurse to wear a mask. Cases that require a mask might be when there is presence of respiratory disease which could be caused by Tubercle Bacilli (TB), or for example the presence of diahrroea and vomiting which might signify the presence of noro or rotaviruses which may have airborne spores. On the contrary when a patient is colonised with Methicillin Resistant Staph. Aureus (MRSA), a mask is of little to no use to a nurse, unless the patient is consistently coughing (Landers et al., 2010). By educating nurses, it is my belief that while safety is kept, unecessary patient apprehension could be avoided.

A furthur point of reference was the nurse to patient ratio Finnish hospitals adopted. On most occasions in these wards, the nurse to patient ratio was 1:2 and 1:3. This, in my opinion allows space for excellent and complete holistic care of the patient, and I believe this is an ideal situation which all healthcare facilities should adopt. In Malta this ratio may vary, the worst being nights shifts in geriatric hospitals, where it can be 1 nurse : 42 patients, which I personally believe is a potential hazard. The situation in Malta several times leads to a job burnout, and thus reducing job satisfaction, and may indirectly affect sick and leave rates, making the shortage of nurses even worse. While I do understand that every hospital must reduce its expenses, such institutions also have the duty to ensure high quality patient care and safety, while keeping working staff content and reducing potential risks for burnout as much as possible.

A few hours away from departure

I must say that to date, I am still not fully aware, that in a couple of days I will be boarding a Lufthansa aircraft, destination Finland. I am still detached that it is going to be actually me who will be in Finland. However, preparing for the trip, including trying to imagine the freezing temperature I am going to experience, aids to keep this experience quite tangible until I raech my destination. Having said that, the excitement is starting to build up, a new country, a new experience, and new friends. Well, my current situation, is well blogging from my living room with the temperature around 18 degrees! Quite comfortable I'd say. Then again, I cannot wait to see that dashing white snow, I have seen only in movies. I do not know even what it feels like, so taking a handful of snow, just to feel its texture will be a first to do thing.

During these past days I was busy studying for exams, and at last they are over. I could have sworn that the days of studying would be endless, until well, they passed. Right after the exams, I have also been busy producing a new house track, and had the time to start another. Hopefully I might finish one when I am in Finland. That would be a first!

Although I may sound odd, I am also looking forward for the coursework. It is my first time that I'll be studying with a foreign university (hopefully not the last one)! Also, I must say I enjoy teamwork, since work can be fun that way!

Alas I need to go through one more time my mental check list of what possesions I need to brink, of course keeping in mind the physical dimension of space, which can be a challenge! I am also looking forward to fish gourmet, which I heard Pori can offer without much problems. I am myself one who adores fish!

OH, and for those who wish to listen to my music just in case you're interested, now that I mentioned:
http://soundcloud.com/glen-camilleri/glen-c-that-sound-original-mix

See you all in Pori,
till then facebook me, or email which can be found on my first post

1st Blog 7-1-2012 - Wiki Review

Alas, this blog has its creation in the early days of 2012. While wishing all the readers an exciting new year, I truly hope that it will not be the last one, as some cataclysmic armageddonian people are predicting.

It was only as of the new year that I realized that Finland and MINE is actually closer than I was originally thinking. Having said this, I can already feel some added excitement, and maybe some anxiousness as the event draws closer.

Having comfortable temperatures of 23 degree and the soft caress of the glowing giant called the sun, might not give me a correct idea of the weather that I am to expect in Pori. However I have my doubts that Malta's sun will be willing to follow me in Pori. But that is OK, I am actually willing to see solidified water, which till now I only got close to when I opened the door to my household's freezer. Also, I must say that I am in a way ready and charged to begin working on this experience whatever it might bring with it, including the work it involves.

Having had a quick glance at the members of the MINE facebook group, I have gathered a slight iidea that this experience will be one that will last a lifetime. In Pori one will have the opportunity to socialize and also work with people from different backgrounds. Furthermore we have different cultures, and our own experiences, which hopefully we will share and learn from each other. The Wiki page, also gave me the idea of the space we are going to focus our experience in, including the University, and leisure activities which include but not limited to saunas and skiing, which I am both looking forward to do. This page aided me to prepare a mental image of what I will be expecting, but I am aware that being there is actually a hundred times as better.

The wiki online page gives relevant information to prospective Erasmus students. One drawback is that the wiki page is not easily accessible to anyone who may be interested in embarking on this project. Furthermore some sections may need updating, while others would be useful having more orgaanised sections. Furthermore the wiki is written in simple HTML code, and not up to date with to date internet expectations. However having said that, would it be accessible freely, and easy searchable, it would be an asset to all students, while promoting erasmus exchange.

But other than that, I am only half concerned as how I am going to kill time while on the aircraft on my way to Pori. But of course annoying a fellow colleague of mine is indeed a good idea.


Looking forward to see you all.
glencam@gmail.com

Truly,
Glen