Any tips for dealing with Mental Health clinicals, next semester

Sparrow91 · May 20, 2014

I am guessing that the students that are lost during that semester are because of the tests more than the clinicals. Mental health questions are WAY different than your average NCLEX style question. Really get to know therapeutic communication and do a lot of studying on the drugs and side effects!!! Our teacher had the Davis success psych book as a required book. They are really tough but they help you to understand that type of question style. Here is the link for the book that we used...

Amazon.com: Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Success: A Q&A Review Applying Critical Thinking to Test Taking (Davis's Success) (9780803629813): Cathy Melfi Curtis MSN RN-BC, Audra Baker RN PMHNP APRN ANCC, Carol Norton Tuzo MSN RN-BC: Books

Good luck! :)

RunBabyRN · May 20, 2014

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/psych-rotation-what-925546.html This can give you some answers for parts of your question. Therapeutic communication is the biggest thing to keep in mind in this rotation. Don't let patients walk all over you. Keep clear boundaries, and DO NOT be a pushover (you said you tend to be too nice, that's why I'm saying this). They'll teach you how to work with psych patients before turning you loose.

Is it the clinicals or the theory that "gets" people? I would think the lecture more than clinicals, as the meds can be tough (SOOO many side effects and interactions), and knowing the different kinds of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and such can be hard for some people.

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · May 20, 2014

In my program, it was the theory that normally "got" people. It's just not very easy to figure out which answer on the exams are "best" because it's less definitive than other subjects. Psych questions just are written differently than the typical NCLEX style questions that you get used to.

How to actually work with the patients? Treat them like decent human beings, expect that they treat you like a decent human being, and set clear and firm boundaries to that effect. Don't play along with their psychoses because they'll take you down a very long and (sometimes) too interesting road. Be very careful about where you go with these patients. Always think safety.

Beyond that, your instructor will teach you what you need to be safe when working with these patients. It can be a very interesting and rewarding time for you. At the very least, by the end of that rotation, you'll be reasonably decent with therapeutic communications (or at least a whole lot better than you were) and you'll be a lot more comfortable assessing and asking your patients about their mental health.

classicdame, MSN, EdD · May 20, 2014

I thought this class was fun, as I was learning so many neat things, but hated the clinicals because the patients "looked normal" but were sick and that was hard for me to reconcile at the time. As you and others have mentioned, therapeutic communication is vital. Sometimes the best thing to do is be quiet. Just try to remember to give the instructors and the tests what they are looking for, not what you think is right based on experience. This will stretch you a little, but that is how growth occurs.

Little_Bear2013 · May 23, 2014

Thanks everyone for all your help, sorry I couldn't get back sooner been busy.

The rumor is that it's clinicals that gets to the vast majority of people because a lot of peoples dark side comes out, & they get expelled from the program; however, I've heard different & that it's the testing style...Compared to last semester in our Fundamentals of Nursing & Concepts class we didn't have any NCLEX style type questions on our tests, almost every single question was straight forward, like what is osmosis...

Anyways...The classes true colors I think came out when we took our first ATI exam, only about 6 people out of 72 people passed the first time but thankfully about 10-15 more passed the 2nd time, & the DON even let people take it a 3rd time who didn't pass the 2nd time, which I think those were definitely more NCLEX style type questions.