Today was an exciting day for all of us since we got to finally do our presentations we have been working on since March! Before that, we started out morning by learning more about child development and labor. We got to use the anatomage tables and see fetuses of different gestational ages and really get a look at how they develop. It was cool to be able to see them through different types of scan, such as an x-ray, MRI, or being able to only see bones or tissue. They develop pretty quickly but also it is difficult to really understand what you are looking at and where different structures are util it is close to being full term. We also had the opportunity to look at a simulation of childbirth on the table. You could see how the uterus contracts to help push the baby out, and also how as the baby is being delivered, all of the organs shift back into place. This was a really cool way to see it, because I feel like I knew a lot about the whole process, but seeing it in this new way really allowed me to make sense of what I already knew. 

After this, we had a little bit of time to grab lunch and practice our presentations before the nursing conference started. We first walked around to a few information tables where we got to hear from BCU’s adult nursing program, their air force, and HIV nurses. I spent a lot of time talking with their military nurses and hearing how theirs is different from ours, and just their experiences in general. There were a lot of similarities, but also some noticable differences, such as how not all nurses are 100% eligable to join, because a child nurse would not really have much experience in working in adults experiencing trauma. They said that if you are a child nurse and decide this is something you want to do, there are ways you can gain experience to be able to join them. 

Next, we got to hear from staff from BCU about their programs and how things work at their school. We then talked to our first speaker, who really focused on how the nursing profession is so trusted, and how we need to continue to build this. What she said really stuck with me, because as a nurse you interact with people at their most vulnerable, difficult time, and having trust is extremely important. For the patient, it would be hard to have someone inserting a catheder for example, that you do not trust since that is such an invasive, private, procedure. I feel like by talking about this and recognizing that we are the frontline and the face they see the most, when things go wrong with the healthcare system they associate that with nurses. Recognizing this will push me to be a better nurse, and try my best to make patient experiences better so they can remember the care they got instead of a systemic fault like a very long wait time. We also got to hear from Dr. Marks about Implicit Biases. This is such an important thing to understand, especially for nurses because we will have to work with people of all different backgrounds, ages, cultures, etc. Although I like to say I have no biases, even something as simple as her activity where I imagined a nurse as a woman, and I imagined a head of a hospital as a man proves that they are present even if you think they are not. Being able to recognize and understand this will allow me to better treat all of my patients, and reflect on my own actions and thoughts to really try and eliminate any assumptions I unknowingly make about patients.

Then it was time for us to present. Everybody did such a good job and it was really interesting to hear about all of the research people did and the differences in various topics across the US and UK. It was definitely a little nerve-wracking to go up in front of people and share our research, but I think being able to speak in public is a valuable skill. Even though as nurses our main role is not speaking to groups of people, if I ever want to go into leadership positions, that is something I would need to be comfortable with and I felt as though this helped. It also was just such an incredible experience to be able to present research on something I truly care about in another country and actually teach those living in the UK something they may not have already known. Today I was really able to learn many things that are important to consider when entering the healthcare field, and I want to be able to carry this knowledge into my practice as a nurse to help me be the best nurse I can be to my patients.