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.