NURS 432: Mental Health Nursing: week 1

NURS 432: Mental Health Nursing: week 1: I have a brief experience working with a small population of people with mental illness in an assisted living facility and a group home. But...

I actually do not have or have never worked with mentally ill person before, but I have seen people who are mentally ill. I was surprised when I got to the clinical site, the patients were different from what I have seen, I am looking forward to exploring this clinical experience, and very anxious to speak and ask my client some questions, and try to know what is like to live with this illness. I don't really have any concerns, but my personal goal is to be safe at all times, been mindful of my environment, by making sure that I stay at arms length and provide the best possible care I can for my patient.

Week #1 Blog

1. I have dealt with the mentally ill though my work as a home health aide and nurse extern. Many of the patients I work with are from the geriatric population. Most suffer from Alzheimer's and/or dementia. 
2. I have been assigned to Spring Grove Hospital in Catonsville, MD. From my initial visit to the campus and the things I have seen on TV I expect to see patients resemble what I see on the Investigation Discovery Channel. Spring Grove has majority forensic patients, thus they have criminal charges. I am not afraid of the patients, yet I am apprehensive about the unknown. Patients who have mental illness have struggles internally that we cannot physically see. Anything can be said, perceived, or interpreted as a threat and trigger and negative response or disruption in the milieu. I weary of what could happen if one patient becomes upset because there they could potentially become violent or upset other patients and they become violent. 
3. I am expecting to learn a lot about the mentally ill. I am hoping to apply things learned in theory to the clinical setting. I also want to improve my therapeutic communication. Much of what nurses do on a day to day basis, in every specialty, is effectively communicating with patients to gather pertinent assessment data. If a nurse plans to fully assess a patient and be therapeutic, the way in which he or she communicates is vital. When working with the mentally ill is crucial that nurses are therapeutic because non-therapeutic creates a dilemma in working with the patient effectively. Moreover, a non-therapeutic relationship can block the efficacy of interventions implemented by the nurse. I believe, if you can therapeutically communicate with a mentally ill patient, you can therapeutically communicate with anyone. 
4. I am concerned about potential aggression from the patients. The mentally ill often have cognitive difficulties, thus their comprehension and/or interpretation could be skewed. Any perceived threat to the mentally ill patient could cause an issue between me and the patient and/or within the milieu. 
5. My personal goal for this clinical experience is to learn how to assess a mentally ill patient and be therapeutic in communication. 

week 1

I have a brief experience working with a small population of people with mental illness in an assisted living facility and a group home. But, I have never been in a mental facility or had the opportunity to be in the midst of a large number of individuals with mental illness.

Upon entry into my assigned clinical facility, I must confess I was really scared for my safety when I encountered individuals at very close range on my way to the conference room. When I was eventually assigned to a patient, it took a lot of courage for me to walk up to him and introduce myself, and throughout my stay at the clinical site I kept looking over my my shoulders.

I hope to be able to exercise the skills I have learned in communicating effectively with the clients, and I know I would get used to being around this population during the course of the clinicals.  My goal is to learn and understand more about caring effectively for this population, but I do not this Psych nursing is for me, but one can never say never.

NURS 432: Blog #1

I have worked with many adverse population of mentally illed individuals for over 10 years now. My deverse experiences includes working with those diagnosed with Schizophrenia, Bipolar, Major Depression, ADHD, to Sexual abuse. I have done case management, community resources coordination, as well as have over 5 years of clinical inpatient experience at my current employment. I truly enjoy my work and feel empowered to help those without a voice.

2).
I must say, although I am not afraid to work with individuals living with mental illness, I am a bit apprehensive about going into a State Institution and on to a unit where Long Term care is the goal. I have worked with patients locked inn at the hospital but have never been to a mental illness institution. I get a little nauseated when I think about it. The truth is, "This is where the real criminally insane go to spend the rest of their life taking medications under close supervision". That is a hard pill to swallow. However, I know that there is a very fine line between a healthy mind and mentally illed mind. So with that insight, I feel very blessed for the opportunity to work closely with patients in the next coming weeks.

3)
My expectations for this clinical experience is very sample. I pray to encounter especial individuals  who will allow me the opportunity to sit and talk to them in order to gain some insight into their world and experiences. I hope to learn more about psychotherapy, psychotropic medications and their major side-effects. I look forward to conducting a Mini Mental examination, as well as to observe the many dynamics of mental illness while at the facility.

4).
I can not say that I have many concerns beside Safety. I plan on keeping in mind my aggressive management training techniques, and to remember to be firm, give personal space, be kind and respectful, and to ask my clinical instructor for directions if feeling uneasy or unsure about anything while at the facility.

5).
Personal goals: To learn from a primary source how it is to live with mental illness.

To discuss the day to day management of taking psychotropic medications.

To observe how it is to manage a milieu of chronic ill patients.

To assess my own assumptions about those living in a mental institution after our clinical time is over.

Week 1 Blog

I have worked with the Geriatric population at Sheppard Pratt for a little over a year and during that time I have been exposed to patients with eating disorders, Obsessive compulsive Disorders, Dissociative Identity Disorder, depression, Dementia and Alzheimer’s. 

 

My experience at Sheppard Pratt is a little different from my experience at Spring Grove. I assumed that all psychiatric institutions were the same and that they would be a lot like the ones I had experienced at Sheppard Pratt.  I was wrong, but I decided to keep an open mind. The population that I would be working with are diagnosed as having schizophrenia and I had little experience with working with patients with this illness so I really didn’t know what to expect. 

Upon entering I found that there was very little distance that I could put between myself and the patients. As a result I immediately became concerned about my safety and the safety of the staff. However, I found that as long as I enforced boundaries and watched how the staff interacted with the patients, I felt at ease. During this clinical I expect for it to hopefully improve my nursing skills when it comes to communicating therapeutically and being effective when interacting with patients. One personal goal is to play the role as the charge nurse and therefore, gaining an understanding of what it means to be competent, a communicator and flexible while also providing high quality patient care.

NURS 432: Mental Health Nursing: Week One

NURS 432: Mental Health Nursing: Week One: Students are usually apprehensive about going into a psychiatric facility for the first time. My own experiences were actually pretty tame. ...

I have work with the mentally ill patients especially, the
geriatric population for over 5 years. I really enjoyed working with the elderly.
Their diagnosis were mainly Alzheimer, dementia, bipolar, depression, and a
very few schizophrenic patients. I never heard about Spring Grove Hospital
Center until starting this course therefore, I am very limited with my
assumptions. However, I volunteered at Shepard Pratt few years ago so; I
assumed it was going to be the same. To my amazement, I was in total shock when
I arrived at the unit for clinical today. The unit was very small, rooms were
shared, the yard was small, the activities and groups area was small and limited,
and the unit appeared to be the patients’ residence since they live there so
long (meaning 9, 10 years for the few that I asked). I am looking forward to
exploring this part of my clinical rotation, exploring the insight of people
living with mental illness, learning to build and terminate therapeutic
relationship, and organizing and leading groups with the patients. I am curious
to see the different aspect of how people live with mental illness since I am on
a chronic mental illness unit with court ordered forensic patients and regular
patients. How it is to live with mental illness all your life? My personal goal
is to learn as much as I can and explore mental health as a field to work in or
not work in upon graduation. This clinical experience is essential and my
experience will determine my career exploration. I look forward to having a
great clinical experience.

NURS 432: Mental Health Nursing: Week One

NURS 432: Mental Health Nursing: Week One: Students are usually apprehensive about going into a psychiatric facility for the first time. My own experiences were actually pretty tame. ...