Week 6: Termination

I can't believe its over! To be honest I am sad its over. I enjoyed working with my client and the other patients on the unit. I learned a lot from these patients, outside of our required course work. What I anticipated coming into this experience is the complete opposite of what happened. I was weary of the patients because I thought they would be explosive and agitated for no reason; however that was not the case. These patients on the unit are brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers. They have loved ones and they have feelings. They may be mentally ill, but they are still people. I would like to think I received respect from the patients on the unit because I was respectful to them. This was definitely a learning experience and has opened my eyes to another specialty. Thank you to my clinical instructor and my fellow clinical classmates for this experience.

Week 5: AA Meeting

Today I attended an AA meeting in Columbia, MD. The meeting was very similar to what you would see in a movie. People of all walks of life in one room talking, sharing stories, and supporting one another. At the beginning of the meeting we went around the room and introduced ourselves. Since I did not want to be viewed as threat to them I did not reveal I am a nursing student or observer. I heard many stories of those who deal with alcoholism. Many people want to stop drinking but they just do not know how. At the end of the meeting people that were friendly with one another spoke and those that were new acquaintances exchanged contact information. This was a 'judge-free zone' that had a lot of love in the room. No one is this room was better than the next, we were all there just to talk about our own experiences and offer support. It was nice to know there are places that exist where people can be open and honest without fearing shame from others for their actions.

WEEK 6 Termination

I can't believe it is termination time already! It's been quite an experience, I must say. I remember starting my first day of clinical at the SGHC scared and apprehensive at my first encounter with the patients, and I truly wondered how  I would make it through. On the contrary, after week two of the clinical I was looking forward to interacting with my patient. I had a different notion of what to expect during interactions with my patient initially, and my experience with the first client I was assigned  did not help matter much. As the rotations progressed I got better at interacting with my client.
learning to see the person beneath all the symptoms and behavior helped me communicate effectively with my eventual patient . I have also learned to be more empathetic, and also use the right word that would have the appropriate therapeutic effect on my patient.  I terminated with my patient before we gave them a teaching about hygiene, he gave me a hug and asked if I would come around to see him again.

NURS 432: Mental Health Nursing: Week Six

NURS 432: Mental Health Nursing: Week Six: Termination is near for you and your client. Blog about this experience...What did you learn about yourself? Were there any surprises? Discu...

It was an experience that I will never forget.  I did not know that I had it in me to actually sit down and listen to someone telling me about themselves without me freaking out. My first day at the unit was very scary to me ,I have never been in the mist of mentally ill before so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I found out they are human too, they are just sick and needed help to get back to their normal life. I treated my patient with respect and, I listened to every conversation. I am really happy I had this experience.

Week 3: Pros and Cons

The pros to using movies to learn about psychiatric disorders is that it enhances learning. Reading information from a textbook can sometimes only give you a one dimensional view when it comes to the presentation of a disorder. Movies however provides you with a mental picture and can give you a better understanding of what you might expect in a clinical setting. Cons to using movies as a learning tool is that movies are not always accurate and the disorder or character may have been exaggerated for box office purposes. Also, while it does give you a visual example. It doesn't replace an in person interaction.

Week 6: Termination!

Wow, I for one cannot believe that it is that time to say goodbye already. I must say, I am very excited say that this clinical experience has been a successful one. I did not know what to expect when I walk into my cottage, but I am going to be walking away with a feel of gratitude and empowerment. As a group, I feel that each and every member built some kind of great rapport with our clients. The psychoeducational group activities planned by us helped us to interact in a very meaningful way with our clients. We all were given the opportunity to get to know each patient on our unity. I feel that as a group, we all now have a strong understanding of what it is to live with a mental health disorder.

What did I learn about myself? Well, I learned that I have great compassion for those living with mental disorders because I am very aware that one can lose their mental well-being if not careful. I also learned that I am the type of individual who wants to live my life without judgement of others. I learned that I have been given a strong foundation by not only my family/culture but also through my education on how to accept people for who they are. These past weeks I have noticed how my interactions with the patients have helped teach me to be more patient, understanding, and empathetic. Everything in life is a process, and requires patience in my opinion. If these patients whom some are due to a court order can bear down and hold on to the “Hope” of one day leaving the facility, then I should never have a complaint in the world. After all, I am free to roam about in society. I am not locked inn, isolated, and consistently monitored. I am blessed and feel that I have been a blessing to the participants that I encountered.

How did I impact their lives? Well, through our group activities, we grow as a group together. The patients, over time, have learned to trust us, and in my opinion, believe that we have their best interest at heart. We brought them joy, laugher, games, and therapy at the same time. This to me is a component that they may have been missing. We gave them something to look forward to every week. Our interactions were very positive and they received it that way as well. My biggest surprise was just the unit’s policy/practice hours of “quest time” that they patients had to endure while were there because I looked at it from a pointless standpoint.  I can clearly understand that the staff were trying to keep peace but to me, I saw more patients, appearing to be responding to the loss of stimulation by aggressively pacing and I also observed some level of agitation. Overall, this experience was not an easy one but a definite worthwhile. I feel blessed as a future nurse to have had this opportunity.

Nana B. Osei-Bonsu

NURS 432: Mental Health Nursing: Week Five

NURS 432: Mental Health Nursing: Week Five: Blog about your support group experience as a participant-observer.

I went to my church (Redeem Christian Church of
God) grief support group counseling section just to observe what they do there.
New members will stand up and introduced themselves to the group. I stood and
did the same but told them am just an observer and asked if it was alright for
me to just listen to them, everyone welcomed me. People just talked about what
was going on with them and some offer there advice on their coping mechanism. At
the end, they had snacks and drinks and some exchange phone numbers.

Week 4: Reflection of Emapthy

It has been four weeks since my arrival on at the Spring Grovel Psychiatric Hospital. The expectations and apprehensions I had prior to walking on the unit have vanished. Since walking on the unit I have toured the unit, gained a working patient relationship with a client, and developed a therapeutic relationship with more than one patient on the unit. Throughout my time on the unit I have developed a rapport with the staff. I felt it was essential to have a relationship with regular scheduled staff as they are the persons whom interact with the patient on a daily basis and more frequently than I do. Many of the staff has been helpful. I had the pleasure of speaking with the head nurse while monitoring the lunch room. She took time to educated myself and a fellow classmate on the importance of assessing patients while eating. Many of the patients are on sedative medications would could inhibit eating and swallowing. This then poses as risk for aspiration an pneumonia. I have also had the opportunity to sit in the team meetings that occur Thursday mornings. These interdisciplinary meetings are done to evaluate the health of patient, develop interventions, and educate patients. Patients are called into these meetings daily to review their medications, any changes in medications, and to evaluate the effectiveness of current therapies. Moreover, I have developed a relationship with a patient on this unit,  Mr. DJ. My client has made me aware of and more empathetic to persons with mental illness. Through my interactions with Mr. DJ I have been able to assess him and his coping while in the hospital. While I personally feel a mental illness is no different than any other diagnosis, I am aware everyone does share my view. The psychiatrists and nurses are empathetic to the patients and respectful. There are some patients that tend to have “short fuses” and become rowdy when given an answer this dislike, however, majority of patients and staff have a mutual, respectful relationship.

Week 3: The Pros and Cons to Movies

Throughout the course of this class students have been instructed to view movies during class time and on their own that exemplify mental health issues. Examples of movies that have been used include: SnakePit, Mr. Jones, and the Color Purple. Each movie has a character that displays a mental illness. I have found the use of movies from the learning process to have pros and cons. The positive qualities to using movies include a visual depiction and a clear defined set of characteristics or symptoms. In each of the movies I have watched for class I have been able to readily identify the patient, as well as, the mental illness they are suffering from. I particularly liked the viewing of SnakePit. Although the movie is set in the early 1900s it still had relevance to today. As a student visiting an actual psychiatric ward for the firs time the movie helped relieve some of anxiety I felt. The movie also exposed me to the rigors of psychiatric hospital floors. Nurses are very strict with rules on the unit and there are mandatory times for patients to complete tasks. For example in the movie Nurse Harris became very irate the patient had not made her bed. On the actual unit nurses have their set rules that must be followed in the milieu. In my clinical at Spring Grove patients are given specific times to wash clothes, eat lunch, and wake up in the morning. In contrast there are some cons to using movies in learning. In many of these movies the patients behaviors are exaggerated. When entering my first day on the unit I expected all of the patients to be agitated, emotionally unstable people that look “crazy.” While I was met with some of my expectations there is no experience like working on the unit. Overall I found the movies to be helpful in the course. I do not have mental illness close in my family thus I was able to visually see the impact the illness had on the patient and their surrounding family and friends. It was very interesting to note that mental illness can take many forms and manifestations, yet it tends to leave many with the same feelings. Those loving someone who suffers from a mental illness have experiences unique to the role they play in the clients. I would definately reccomend the continuation of movie usage in the course.

 

 

Week 2

While I am familiar with Blogs I have not written or participated in any until now. However, I do read them. I like the concept of blogs because I am interested in another person’s perspective, when it comes to multiple topics and what that persons experience can teach me. Psych Congress (http://www.psychcongress.com) is a website that provides the latest information to health care providers and professionals. Topics such as schizophrenia, anxiety, suicide and ADHD are considered to be the top trending topics discussed on the website. The website is inviting and easy to navigate. The website's Blog spot encourages readers and bloggers to post their viewpoints and comments. The website is sponsored by The North American Center for Continuing Medical Education (NACCME).

Its been four weeks since my arrival at the designated mental health hospital, it's been a learning experience so far. I have had a lot of interactions with patient and I  have been able to relax the tension and fear I experienced in the first week. I have not seen any family visit with the patient but I have witnessed the nurses and other staff members interact with the patients therapeutically, and I have also seen some staff member communicate with them in an authoritative manner.

NURS 432: Mental Health Nursing: Week 4: My feeling about my current clinical exper...

NURS 432: Mental Health Nursing: Week 4: My feeling about my current clinical exper...: It’s been three weeks since your arrival to designated Psych units, what are some of your thoughts and feelings about the environment, the..

My first feeling about this psych clinical was scary, tried not to think about it, I think I felt this way because I have not been to any psych unit, therefore, I don't know what to expect. Since arriving at the site (Spring Grove) and getting to know some of the patients, it has given me a different perspective on the client. Some of the patients were always eager to speak and answer some of our questions, and some ,don't just want to be bothered. I have not witnessed any violence among the patient, the environment is calm, the staffs has been wonderful. So far, I am enjoying my clinical experience.

Week 4: My feeling about my current clinical experience!

It’s been three weeks since your arrival to designated Psych units, what are some of your thoughts and feelings about the environment, the patients, the staff and you?

I must say, I love and very much enjoy the learning experience at our clinical site this semester. Spring Groove surprisingly has exceeded my expectations. What I most enjoy is the joy I feel we bring to the patients when we are there interacting with them. Our therapeutic games and group times are times where I feel we really bond with each and every patient who chooses to participate.  As the weeks go by, I have noticed how the patients are becoming my comfortable with us. The one’s who once resisted socializations look forward to talking to us as soon as we arrive on the unit. The ones that were once, isolative with a flat affect, are noted to be smiling and are more talkative. It’s almost liked they had to watch and feel us out in opinion. I truly appreciate that because, in the world of mental health, one I feel, should not easily trust everyone they encounter. As a group, we have become more aware of many of the signs and symptoms of many of the current mental health diagnosis, so we are able to identify some of the noticeable side effects experienced by the patients such as rapid/pressured speech, severe hand tumors, the Parkinsonism shuffle, and those that are responding to internal stimuli (RTIS).

The staff, so please do not get me wrong because I too am a mental health worker at a hospital facility. I have always enjoyed my position and went to school to get my BA for the purpose of assisting those living with some form of mental illness. The problem that I have noticed with some mental health workers is that many lose their “good insight” after so many years of working in the profession. Many also tend to lose their compassion. I do not mind the workers at our current facility. What I have noticed is that they make sure that their patient care rounds are faithfully completed every 15 mins. Besides that, they do not interact in any social form with the patients. They are more so there to monitor them, redirect them for safety reasons, and to make sure that each receive their prescribed medications. There are a few male staff members who seem to interact very well with the patients, including playing table games but as for the female workers, I have not seen that side as of yet. The second week we were there, we discovered that there is such a thing as “quite time” from the hours of 4pm to 6pm. During those hours, the television is shut off, and the patients are left to roam the hallways with nothing to do or keep their attention. Many appear more depressed in their affect during those hours. I found those hours to be very sad and feel that it changed the atmosphere. To me, quite time seemed more of a punishment than anything. The rationale was that it allows for a calmness.  It actually made our time there very sad but our game time/ group activity helped to brighten the patient’s mood. I strongly disagree with this method but the charge nurse is “in charge”

The environment, well I guess there is not much to say when you have individuals locked inn at a facility where many have resided for 13 plus years. It is stuffy, hot at times, and managed the best it can be. There is a television room, game room, dining hall, and the hallway for everyone to pace if need be. What I can say is that, staff make sure that there is plenty of food and snacks for the patients. They also have a good schedule system where activities are orderly. There is phone time, shower time, washing cloths time, meal times, and medication times. Each patient in my opinion is on top of things because that is their day to day routine. Overall, I feel that the staff have the patient’s best interest at heart which is all that matters. The patients on the other hand although many wish to be release at some point sooner then later, are functional, supportive of one another, and compliant with the rules of the facility. I am really appreciative to have this learning opportunity and feel blessed to be in position to assist those in need.

Nana B. Osei-Bonsu

NURS 432: Mental Health Nursing: Week 3

NURS 432: Mental Health Nursing: Week 3: I believe movies can go way helping a students understand psychiatric-mental issues better than the regular classroom lecture. The movies I ...

Movies for some people can be fun and exciting, and using movies as a learning tools for students in order to make student understand psychiatric disorders can go a long way to help visual learners to comprehend issues pertaining to the disorder.



Cons: not many people are visual learners, to them it might not make sense, rather they get confused and student may not really get to know the hidden message behind the movie.



Pros: Movies can help student get a break from classroom lecture and away from the instructor. Visual learners can use movie to fully understand how mental illness affects the patient, it gives the opportunity to learn in a more relaxed and comfortable atmosphere.

Week 3

I believe movies can go way helping a students understand psychiatric-mental issues better than the regular classroom lecture. The movies I have watch in this class have given me a better understanding of mental health issues.
Pros; movies are visual medium which means better education, because we retain information for a long time when we visualize it. Movies bring to life the inanimate and gives us an insight to an issue.
Con; movies is art form, therefore they can bias one's personal imagination, and these imaginations is sometimes contradictory to the truth. Some movies can also portray certain subjects or themes in a way which is far from real, which can make students misunderstand the real issue.

week 3: Pros and Cons of using movies to help students understand Mental Disorders!

In my opinion, I love the idea of using movies to help students to understand psychological disorders because they can a great learning tool.

Pros:
The positive aspects of watching these movies are they can be a wonderful  reinforcement which can help expand learning beyond the textbook and lectures given in the class room. A great movie can assist an individual in get a feel for what many people living with mental illness feel. A great movies can allows us students to have a glimpse of the “clinical picture” of a client with a mental health disorder.
For student such as myself who are visual learners, movies can be a great tool for my processing and understanding. Movies are also at times way more interesting then just the textbook or class work. they can give you great insight at the end of the day.

Cons:
At times through, the use of movies are often an exaggeration of reality and one may not get the opportunity to really see/assess the true clinical picture of a mental disorder. In that case, a student will not get the opportunity to see the true sign and symptoms of a particular disorder which will be a missed opportunity to learn what to look out for. When a student has the opportunity to see a character play a good role, they can really see some noticeable symptoms that can be picked up to help those we encounter in our everyday lives. We can help our family and friends by studying a good written movie/role. I have not seen a great movies where the focus has been placed on nursing interventions for the client when they are admitted and ongoing treatment. Movies can also be long at times. A good movie can be a great learning movies but cannot be reliable tool of study.

Nana B. Osei-Bonsu
November 7th, 2015

Week 2 Psych Blogs!

Blog Entry 2: Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing Blogs

As the flied of nursing has progressed, the use of technology and information has become a very common practice. One such use of technology by mental health workers, consumers, as well as psychiatric nurses is the blogging. I enjoy the trend pf blogging and have followed many bloggers over the years. I myself have never taken the time to blog but I enjoy reading many underground gossip blogs, fashion blogs, and urban news blogs. I can see why many will feel empowered to journal their thoughts, experiences, and day to day unique prospective. After doing some research of several psychiatric-mental health nursing blogs, I the following three to be the most insightful and thought provoking mental health and I believe many will enjoy as well.

1. World of Psychology:
   http://psychcentral.com/resources/Mental_Health/Blogs/
   Psych Central’s premier longest-running blog, focused on the expansive subject that is psychology, human behavior, mental health and illness, and the intersection of technology with all of these things. It is overseen by Dr. John Grohol, and features a regular set of contributors and guest bloggers from many different areas in the field of clinical practice, research and treatment.
   
   
2. Pick the Brain: Grow Yourself
   http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/category/community-posts/
    Produced by Erin Falconer since 2008, this blog is dedicated to depression and other mental health issues, and offers coping skills such as meditation as well as motivation and psychology topics. The blogs are visually inviting and promote an atmosphere of acceptance.
   
   
3. Healthy Place: America’s Mental Health Place
   http://www.healthyplace.com/
   This blog offers non-judgmental acceptance of all mental health issues. Individuals are given free autonomy to confess their previous suicide attempts, as well as  how they have coped from day-to-day with mental illness.

Nana B. Osei-Bonsu

Coppin State University

Helen Fuld School of Nursing

NURS 432: Mental Health Nursing

Clinical Instructor Africa Walker