Missoula has an inpatient treatment clinic for those suffering a mental health crisis. One of our clients ended up there last week, and I am here today to attend a discharge planning meeting. It brings to mind my first experience here as a nursing student.
In my senior year of nursing school, I had an instructor that really didn’t seem to like me. It seems every time I answered a question in class, she would ridicule my answer, which was very embarrassing. I wasn’t sure why, because it was the first time I’ve ever had that experience with an instructor. Even my classmates were aware of it, and commented on it frequently. So fast-forward to our clinical rotation for the psychiatric nursing class…we were all scheduled to be at Providence for six weeks. On the first morning of our rotation and orientation, I woke up very dizzy. One of the random spells I would get from time to time. Knowing I certainly couldn’t NOT show up for her orientation, I took a Dramamine and proceeded to get ready. Driving into town, I had a hard time keeping my eyes open. But it quelled the somewhat. When I arrived, I joined my class in the conference room before being assigned our patients. Our professor, the one who didn’t like me, asked for a volunteer to go into the intensive care unit of the psych ward. I raised my hand, knowing as the only student over there, I would have little interaction with the professor that day. I was the only one who raised my hand! She seemed mildly intrigued by that, but off I went to the ICU of the psychiatric ward. I’ve never been comfortable with mental health nursing. Treating an illness that I cannot see perplexed me. It almost made me wonder if it was some twisted form of manipulation. The patients on ‘the other side’ were so acutely in need of crisis intervention, that there were only three rooms on the ward. All exposed by full length/width windows. The patient I had followed me around the entire six hours. She referred to me by name any time she addressed me, which kind of freaked me out, because the tone she spoke with was devoid of any emotion. Still, it was comforting to only have one patient, and one in no acute physical need (IV’s, cardiac monitoring, etc.). I could give her my full attention, help her bathe with the shampoo delivered in a little paper cup, and serve her lunch in Styrofoam bowls and cups with plastic spoons. No plastic forks or knives on a psych ward! It was a real learning experience, but the best part was having a full week’s rotation with no sign of my professor. I think even she was intimidated somehow by going to the acute care side!😂😂😂
Somehow, my volunteering to work in the acute care wing shifted how my professor perceived me. I never had any issues with her after that, and she even complimented me every chance she got. A win-win for me! And somehow, in being back here today, I feel like I’ve come full circle yet again!
Next up is the final presentation for my psych nursing semester 😂😂! But for now, it’s time to go to my meeting. 💕
No comments:
Post a Comment