Life's a B**ch

Today was my first clinical day in the main psych building. I was ready to get out of the outpatient unit. My goal today was to get as much done as I could for my assignments that are due next week. I wasn’t too sure how I would do. I went into the short term unit. Here patients are allowed to come and go from the unit. They are also allowed day passes when merited. I was just a little apprehensive going into the unit for the first time. Fortunately, I was able to fine a patient easily and interview him. My goal with this patient was to conduct my interview so that I would be able to complete my care plan and mental health assessment. After talking to my patient for about an hour, he had to leave for a group meeting.

I must say that I was appalled at what he had to go through. There is no wonder he has problems in life. His main reason for being in the hospital is prescription drug addiction. I am quite surprised that this is his chief problem. His father died while he was a baby, his mother was an alcoholic and a drug abuser, his uncles were no better than his mother. My patient was basically raised by his “loving” grandmother who beat him with water hoses and tree branches. His uncles would make him high from marijuana before he even started kindergarten. He started smoking marijuana when he was in middle school. That also led to alcohol and cocaine/crack abuse later on. His best friends killed themselves and he now has no family in his support group. What kind of sick people do this to their child? It is really disgusting to know that there are people in the world who do this to children.

Considering his background, I’m amazed that he is still alive. He does have hopes of becoming a healthcare worker someday, as he was a medic in the army. I don’t know that he will ever be allowed to enter the profession, but he sure would have an amazing and inspirational story if he did.

I was able to get all of the information that I needed for my assignment. That’s good. I spent much of the remainder of the day working on the care plan.

I was wondering today what my future holds for me. I am really enjoying mental health nursing. The disorders we are studying are really fascinating; however, I’m not sure that I feel truly drawn to this particular field of study within the nursing profession. I thought I would be, but that hasn’t happened yet. Honestly, I feel like I’m just waiting for something to really inspire me. Right now it’s as if I’m simply scratching off the options that I know I don’t want to do and I’ll see what’s left. (Process of elimination.)

Tomorrow I will be on the same unit. I’ll work specifically on my process recording. I’m a little worried about this one because it’s all about therapeutic communication. Today, I noticed that I was asking a lot of closed ended questions. That’s not good. I think I’ll feel better if I go back and review a couple chapters on communication. That will make me feel better…maybe.

Only 1 and ½ weeks left for clinical. It’s going by very fast and I don’t feel like I’m able to learn everything I need to learn. Degrees are funny that way. There is an infinite amount of information to be learned, yet there is a VERY finite amount of time to learn it.

-DV