Clinicals at county mental hospital?

UTRN2005 · Jan 8, 2005

I was at Austin State Hospital for my psych rotation, even better than a county one. Yes there were some homeless people, but no prostitutes that I knew of. Most of the patients there were people that had very low incomes or were on social security disability due to their illness. It was a pretty good experience even though psych is totally not my area of interest. People in a county/state facility tend to be either less stable or lower income or both. A few groups from my school went to a private psych hospital and they said that there were a lot of people in for drug rehab. None of that at the state hospital, they won't pay for it. Mainly major depression, bipolar, schizoaffective and schizophrenia. Just keep your eyes and mind open, you should learn a lot. Good luck.

mavnurse · Jan 8, 2005

That's kind of good that they don't do drug rehab because hopefully that means I'll get to see a wider range of things. We also have a two day trip to Terrell State Hospital planned as part of our clinical, and from what I hear, that's when things get really interesting.

jaimealmostRN · Jan 8, 2005

We got to spent three weeks of clinical with rapists, and other fabulous members of the criminally insane. I was so shocked that our school even brought us to this state facility in NJ. Just don't wear make-up (if your a girl) and pull your hair back tight - no pony-tails. Wear clothes that don't show off the 'ladies' and stick together with a buddy at all times. I learned a lot, but felt extremely threatened and unsafe the entire time I was there. You'll do great, but just remember safety first! :)

elkpark · Jan 8, 2005

I have taught psych clinical in both the closest state hospital and "regular," community hospital psych units. The experiences were not terribly different. In the state hospital, the students saw more of the seriously chronically mentally ill, poor population (since the state hospital isn't allowed to "cherry pick" like so many of the community hospitals do, and turn away people that aren't "nice" and well-insured ...).

The students who hated psych hated the state hospital rotation, and the students who liked psych had a great time, and found the clients and the experience more interesting than the community hospital rotations. Neither the students nor I felt that the students were in any greater danger in the state hospital than the other psych settings we used for clinical (the hospital administration only allowed students on specific units of the hospital -- there were other areas where the risk might have been greater, but students didn't go to those units for that reason).

As for the safety tips from jaimealmostRN, I agree with all of those and have always considered those prudent, basic practices in any psych setting, as well as being v. cautious about boundary issues. You will definitely see a different population than you would at some cushy private place, but there is no reason to expect that you would be in more danger just because it's the county hospital, and it will probably be a more productive educational experience in several different ways. Good luck! :balloons: