Welcome to Psych.

"See this dent in my nose? Yeah, that's where a patient jumped on my back and smashed my face into a wall 8 times. She broke my nose pretty good... but don't be scared."
Yet again, nursing school has me terrified. Great way to start off a class, Mrs. P. Now I am scared that I am going to get the crap beaten out of me by a patient during clinicals. I knew I should have started working out more...

Don't get me wrong, I have worked with many crazy demented older folks. But really, how much harm can a little old lady do? Dementia is easy... all you have to do is redirect their thoughts--"hey want some potato chips?" or "how about we go play a game." They will more than likely forget what they were even upset about 5 minutes later. With dementia patients you enter their world. If they are in Taiwan drinking a margarita then you nod you head and go right along with them. Working with other psych issues that really make people sick is what scares me. You can't just "go into their world" if they are having hallucinations or hearing voices. You have to pull them back to reality. That is a whole different world of care than what I am used to.

I know that in reality most of the people in the hospital are very normal people that are having trouble keeping their illness under control. I know there are a few people I know that seem perfectly normal despite the fact that they have a mental illness. I know that people are perfectly capable of functioning with mental problems, yet I am still nervous about working with them in the hospital.

I think what scares me the most is that I am still learning to be good at "therapeutic communication." I always have a hard time getting patients to explain things to me--even simple things. Working with patients who are severely depressed only makes talking to them that much harder. I am not good at asking very personal and emotional questions yet. I mean, how easy is it to ask someone about their suicide plan? That is an intense conversation to have and it is a little outside of my comfort zone (as of right now anyways...)

So for now, I am going to stay positive and get my nerves under control. I need to remember to set aside all my thoughts of what I think psych patients will be like and keep an open mind. I start my clinical rotation on Monday!

I will keep everyone posted on how my first day goes.