Not really goodbye

We would like to congratulate you on completing the course and wish you success in your continuing career.

Image compliments of Google


This is our final Blog in this format. For those of you who regularly visit this site, we hope you have enjoyed our posts and learned a bit about life in Adelaide.

The ARNTP Blog will be replaced by another social networking site, called Ning. The UniSA Ning enables you to post photos and comments as well as create your own interest groups.

For those of you who have participated in the ARNTP/MTP/DTP and Re-entry programs, both past and present, we hope you will come along with us to continue our online communication.

We will be sending you the new link inviting you to join us. See you again soon.

Regards

The Blog Team

Congratulations

We hope you found your professional practice enjoyable and fulfilling.



Photo coutesy Google Images

As you approach the end of your current studies, it would be good to reflect on your experience. In May, a new group of students will commence the ARNTP course. What advice would you give them about:

• Living in Adelaide?


• How to cope with the demands of returning to study?


• How to get the greatest benefit from your professional placement?


• Any other information you feel would be useful.

You can do this by posting a comment on the Blog. Go to the end of this entry and click on comments. Type in your response, then scroll down to select Anonymous as your identity. You can then Publish your comment. Alternatively, email Alison in the library and we will write a collective and anonymous response with your feedback.

We hope you can find the time to respond and look forward to your comments.

Congratulations and best of luck!

Regards

The Blog Team

Easter holidays

April 10-13th is Easter. Many of the larger supermarkets will be closed Good Friday, Easter Sunday and the public holiday on Monday. However department stores such as Myer and Target will be open, as well as other traders. Check with your local shopping centre for opening times.
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb Image courtesy of Google

Please note, the UniSA library closes for the four days and the two week teaching break commences.

The State Library on the corner of North Terrace and Kintore Avenue is closed on Good Friday, but opens for the rest of the holiday period. Check with your local public library for their opening times.

Places of interest, such as the SA Museum & Art Gallery, Adelaide Zoo and the Glenelg foreshore are worth a visit if you're looking for something to do. It is also the time of the very popular Oakbank horse racing carnival.

Have a safe and happy time wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

Regards

The Blog Team

End of Daylight Saving this weekend

Before you go to bed this Saturday night, 4th April, remember to put your clocks back one hour: e.g. if you go to bed at 10.00pm, change the time to 9.00pm.

A whole extra hour to catch up on sleep!

Image courtesy of Google

Regards

The Blog team

A taste of India

This weekend is Mela 2009, a celebration of Indian Culture in Elder Park.

"When the gates open on the annual Mela, organised by the Indian Australian Association of South Australia, Elder Park will burst with the colour, movement and flavours of the culturally diverse subcontinent.”

Make your way to Adelaide’s beautiful Elder Park by the River Torrens on King William Street, just north of Festival Theatre. Click here for a map

The festivities promise fun for all ages - Indian food, dancing, displays, a shopping bazaar, and classical, folk and Bollywood music.

When: Saturday, March 28, 2009

Where: Elder Park, Adelaide

Opening times: 11am to 11pm

Autumn-spring – a great time of year!

"Where flowers bloom so does hope ... "
Lady Bird Johnson

We hope you are enjoying the wonderful autumn weather we’re having at the moment. And we are all looking forward to the Easter weekend when many Australians go to church, get together with friends and eat the customary foods for that time of year.

Of course in most of your home countries your friends are enjoying spring after what has been for many people a long cold winter! We searched the internet to find out if there were any festivals associated with spring in the northern hemisphere and were amazed at how many celebrations we found. Here are just a few…

The Prague Spring International Music Festival in Czechoslovakia.

The Annual International Spring Festival and the Festival of world class music in Newbury both in the USA.

The Baltic Spring Festivals in Lithuania, Latvia & Estonia

The Beijing International Kite Festival

The International Spring Festival in Peru

The Annual Spring Film Festival in Hawaii

An International Buddhist Festival – the Kadampa Festival

The 'Spring Festival' in Kuwait

Spring Festivals in India

Soonchunhyang spring festival in Korea

And we wondered what YOU usually do around this time of year when you are celebrating at home? Please tell us a few of YOUR stories.

Regards

The Blog Team

Clipsal 500 car race

The Clipsal 500 car race begins next Friday 19th March, and it goes for four days. The car race is held on the streets of Adelaide in the eastern parklands and roads. Preparations for it have already started, and roads are starting to be blocked off.

Traffic will be slow and congested and you may need to leave home early to get to your placement on time.

More information can be found on the Clipsal 500 Adelaide 2009 website.

Regards,
The Blog Team

Clinical tips from Tina to help you with your placement

Here is a guide to clinicians' expectations of students undertaking a clinical placement

• Understand the nursing context and the work you are involved in
• Know when to ask for help
• Know where to go for help
• Recognise your own limitations and deficits
• Demonstrate commitment to the nursing team
• Be enthusiastic, motivated and positive
• Have time management skills
• Take advantage of learning opportunities
• Be open to suggestions and guidance that is offered
• Have good interpersonal skills
• Understand the importance of accurate documentation
• Practise according to occupational health and safety guidelines

Tips on how you can meet patient expectations

• Make sure that you are prepared before you approach a patient
• When you are doing a procedure, review it prior to carrying it out. Discuss with mentor, ask as many questions as necessary before approaching patient
• Admit when you are out of your depth. Find someone who can assist. Watch and learn
• Involve patients in their own care
• Listen carefully and learn from your patients
• Respect patients' privacy
• Be honest about what you can and can't do

Regards,
Tina and the Blog Team

Writing that Journal

We hope that your placement is going well and that you're learning a lot about the Australian health system.

We thought it would be a good idea this week to focus on your reflective journal that is part of the assessment. Your journal entries may be well under way, but we thought we'd send you a link to the guide about writing journals to remind you of some of the important aspects of writing good entries. If you have any questions or suggestions about writing reflective journals, please post them to this blog or email Tina or Bev Kokkinn (Learning Adviser).

Regards

The Blog Team

What's on - the Fringe Festival

The Adelaide Fringe Festival starts today, and runs from 27 February to 22 March. The Fringe Festival started out as a community arts festival held at the same time as the official Adelaide Festival of Arts, which is held every two years. The Fringe is now held every year, and includes some free and inexpensive events.

One of the free events in town is the BankSA Concert Series. There is a free concert held at 6pm each Thursday to Sunday night, in the Garden of Unearthly Delights. This is 5 minutes' walk from City East campus in Rundle Park, on the corner of East Terrace and Rundle Road, Adelaide.

Another free event is the Fringe Family Weekend , held on 7 - 8 March in Rymill Park.

Regards,
The Blog Team

Clinical placements

You are about to go on clinical placement, and although it may seem scary, it is the start of an exciting time for you and a great way to see how the hospital system in Australia works.

You may also find information about the hospital where you're working by doing a search on Google. For example, we found information about St Andrew's Hospital in Adelaide. If you're travelling to your work placement by public transport, you can plan your trip and download your timetable at Adelaide Metro. Tickets are available at most news agencies and at the InfoCentre, Corner King William and Currie Streets.

We would love to hear your stories about your placements, whether in Adelaide or elsewhere. Please email Tina, or post a comment on the blog.

Regards,
The Blog team

Your feedback is important

We want to know your thoughts about the information provided in this Blog. Please tell us by completing the short survey to the right of this Blog entry.

Regards

The Blog Team

Need to improve your English Language Skills?

Good English language is essential for study and work in the professions.

Australian employers consistently cite good communication skills as one of the critical attributes of an effective employee. This links to the Graduate Qualities which UniSA seeks to foster in its students.

Being proficient in English provides the best opportunity to fully engage in your community at home, at university and in the workplace.

UniSA and Learning and Teaching Unit (LTU) offer a range of options to develop English Language proficiency. Helen Benzie and Bev Kokkinn are your Learning Advisers at City East Campus. They have considerable expertise in linguistics and language.

You can also use the online resources provided by LTU: Clarity of expression, Grammar and punctuation, Summarising and Quick Clicks, which provides English Language advice and worksheets from the learning advisers at LTU.

Fire Awareness

Hopefully you’re discovering that Adelaide is a safe and peaceful city to live in, but as with any other place in the world, there are hazards. House fires can happen anywhere in the world, especially in times of extreme weather.

Photograph courtesy of Flickr

The Metropolitan Fire Service provides information on how to prevent a house fire.
Adelaide has a seasonal Fire Ban in place from 1 Nov to 31 April,

which is the hottest and generally driest part of the year. For information on the ban and fire regulations go to Country Fire Service website.

Regards

The Blog Team

Your tips for future students

You've been here for four months now and have probably learned a lot about living and studying in Adelaide. We'd like you to tell us what advice you would give to future ARNTP students. You can do this by posting a comment on the Blog.

Go to the end of this entry and click on comments. Type in your response, then scroll down to select Anonymous as your identity. You can then Publish your comment. Alternatively, email Alison in the library and we will post your ideas in this Blog.

Regards
The Blog Team

What’s on this weekend?

It’s going to be another hot weekend, so take care and remember last week’s tips for staying cool. There are several outdoor events on Sunday when the forecast is for cooler weather.

Outer Harbour is hosting Flotilla For Kids 2009, an event in support of children living with cancer. The flotilla promises to be a spectacular parade of boats on our local harbour.

If you like watching Korfball or Volleyball, or just enjoy being by the sea, then head to Holdfast Bay. Catch the tram from the city.

Regards
The Blog Team

Extreme heat

We are in the middle of an extremely and unusually hot period. As nurses, you will know the warning signs of dehydration. Make sure you drink a lot of water. Soft drinks such as Coke are not beneficial. Also, avoid the outdoors as much as possible, and make sure you wear a hat, sunscreen and sunglasses if you must go outside. Umbrellas also provide excellent protection from the sun.

You may have noticed that the sun is quite fierce in Adelaide, compared to your country. Australia has a high level of Ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and you will see the current levels mentioned in the weather forecasts on the news. Everyone is at risk of getting burnt, so be careful!

Tips for staying cool
If you have airconditioning, switch it on. If not, use a fan. You can buy cheap fans from Target, Big W, Cheap as Chips and other discount stores. Use wet towels to reduce the temperature. For example hang it up near the fan so that the air will be cooled by blowing through it.

If it is hard to stay cool at home, visit the local library or shopping mall or take time out and go to the movies.

If you have children or animals, never leave them in the car in the heat. Even in cooler weather, cars are very dangerous as the temperature inside a parked car rises in a few minutes to lethal levels.

Always make sure that animals have plenty of water and shade. Even animals can get sunburnt, especially on their noses and ears.

You can find more information on sun safety tips at the SunSmart section of the Cancer Council Australia site

Regards,
The Blog Team

Chinese New Year...!

春節

January 26th is an exciting time in the Asian culture. It is the start of the Chinese New Year Spring Festival, and there will be lots happening in Adelaide during this time.

The festival is a time of ancient traditions and Adelaide likes to embrace multicultural festivals of other cultures, and the Chinese New Year is no exception!

China Town on Grote Street, will come alive on Monday night with Dragons, Dance and Chinese Dumplings! Many other local suburbs will also have their own celebrations with local festivals.

An important part of the festival for the Chinese, is to cook Chinese Dumplings! If you want to have a try at cooking some yourself, here is a great recipe that you can use to give it a go!

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/potstickers/r/potstickers.htm

Happy New Year!!

The Blog Team

School is back!

You can expect to see more cars and pedestrians around the streets from next week. Children return to school from Tuesday the 27th January, so the traffic will increase to the level prior to schoool finishing in December.

So from next week, make sure you allow extra time to get around Adelaide and into University if you catch public transport.

The Blog team

Australia Day!

You will notice on Monday the 26th January, that there will be lots of flags and Aussie BBQ's around the place for Australia Day!

We celebrate the landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove on this day, and all cities in Australia celebrate the colonisation of Australia with parties, bbq's and fireworks!

So have a look around your local area, and see if your local council are doing an Australia Day Parade, a BBQ, fete or open day in the park, and join in!

The Blog Team

Support the UniSA cycling team in the Tour Down Under!

Have you wondered why there are so many cyclists on the road at the moment???

The Tour Down Under International Cycling event starts on Sunday night in the City. There will be thousands of people out to watch the world class cyclists begin the 6 day event which runs from the 18th to the 25th of January.

There will be road closures all around Adelaide and some suburbs at various times, so it may be wise to check out the event course during the week to see if it will impact you.

Don't forget Tour De France winner, Lance Armstrong, will return to competetive cycling at this event, so go and cheer him on!

The UniSA has a cycling team http://www.unisa.edu.au/tdu/ competing in the event, and you can join the free supporters club on the website.

Full details can be found on the Tour Down Under website http://www.tourdownunder.com.au/2009/

The Blog Team

Sharks!

You may have heard recently in the media about a number of shark attacks on swimmers at the beach. Don't let this put you off swimming! Despite how bad it sounds, there are no more attacks than normal. All you need to do is keep your eyes open, and swim on a beach where there are Life Savers on duty, and you will be safe. The Life Savers will be wearing yellow clothing, and there will be flags in the sand indicating the safe area to swim.

The Blog Team

Happy New Year!

Hello everyone, and best wishes for 2009. We hope you had some time for rest and leisure over the break. The weather has been very nice - not too hot!

We saw from the discussion board that a few of you saw the film "Australia" and we would be interested in what you thought. You can post a comment at the bottom of this, or send an email to Tina.

We also saw that you had tutorial presentations on Tuesday, and an exam on Wednesay, and we hope these went well for you.

We will be introducing some new Learning and Teaching staff to you in the next few weeks. Don't forget that staff there can help you with academic and personal problems you may encounter.

What would you like to see on the blog this year? We want to keep the blog relevant to you, and so would really like some feedback on what topics and information you will find useful. Please let us know either by posting to the blog, or through your discussion board.

Best wishes,
The Blog Team