Teaching This Old Dog A New Trick

By the time I’d finished with full time education at around 21, I knew that I never wanted to go back and study like that again. I’d had enough. I’ve revisited that decision a few times when I thought that I might want to go back, and get another qualification but for many different reasons at different times ranging from unsupportive employers to personal situation I decided never to do so.

Looking back now I was lucky when I chose to do my degree because tuition fees weren’t a thing, and I doubt now whether I’d be prepared to take on the debt needed to gain that qualification, I think my education and career path would look very different.

Having said that I have embraced a number of short course thrown my way over the years by various employers mostly because the law suggests they have to: manual handling, first aid etc. and others that helped me to do whatever job I was supposed to be doing at the time.

When I went self-employed I also did a few courses, one on accountancy and tax for example but I’ve mostly learnt from reading as widely as possible and being curious about lots of different things that are both directly or indirectly related to what I do.

This last week however I learnt how to do something that I never thought I would. I’ve learnt how to give antibiotics intravenously. It wasn’t exactly a long course and it means that for the person on the receiving end of my ministrations doesn’t have to go into hospital everyday and can have their medication at home.

For me it meant attending two sessions and reading the instructions. The first was a demonstration where I sat on the sidelines and watched; the second was where I got to do it for real.

I won’t bore you with the detail but essentially (as you’d probably expect) hygiene is of upmost importance and it is fairly step-based in terms of doing the right things in the right order.

I don’t get a certificate for this and I would think I’ll probably forget everything I’ve learnt as soon as the last dose of drugs is given because it feels like one of those things where you need to repeat the steps regularly for them to stick. I doubt my two week stint will be long enough for my aged brain to remember everything in say six months time.

So this week I learnt something new, something a bit different, and something that is of use to another person.

Thanks for reading.