I'm in my psych clinical right now. It's been only day 5 and I have a lot more clinicals left. I am a quiet person and I am not not talkative or outgoing like others in my group. I've had 3 clinicals before this, and my clinical instructors have all said I would be an excellent nurse. However, this psych clinical is different. The instructor first lets us do 1 hour of group activity with the patients and then gives us time to speak to different patients. We have about 1.5-2 hours of post conference. She always says she has a lot of experience in psych and is an expert because she went into psych right after graduation which has been about 30 years. However, once you ask her direct questions pertaining to psych, she doesn't know the answer. She goes..hm...let's look it up in the book or she would direct the question to us, asking what we would do. I thought maybe she was tired for that day, but she doesn't know. even in class, other students would ask a question, and she would just direct the question to us or just say some bs.
i am quiet, but i do talk to patients. i may not be very talkative, but when i'm 1:1, i talk and ask questions. in post conference, in front of everyone, she says i'm too quiet and that i will never be a good nurse. i was extremely upset. how would she know when she hasn't even seen me in the med-surg clinicals. this is just psych and maybe some people are not cut out for psych. she says i'm too quiet.
yesterday, i overheard her speaking to another instructor about me. she was talking s*** about me. how do i overcome this when i have so many days left of clinical?
I know it is easy to say "it's just psych." Most of us will not wind up specialized in psych. But, each of us will deal with patients with psych issues in our careers. Maybe they won't be patients who would necessarily be found at an inpatient facility, but every patient is afraid and stressed in some way. Some of thsoe will exhibit depression, anxiety, underlying personality disorders and more. Psych isn't "just psych" it is an opportunity to learn how to communicate with individuals experiencing illness that isn't easy to see and treat with an IV or surgery.
I am in the midst of my psych rotation ATM. It is interesting and scary all at once. I do not see myself choosing to become a psych nurse, but I am learning a ton about communicating with clients. A few weeks back, my clinical instructor put me in charge of leading a group session on sleep hygiene. I had only about 15 minutes prep time and hadn't had an opportunity to observe a similar group. My entire clinical group was there and it was embarrassingly awful. I had patients who got up and just left in the middle of it is was so awful. My CI let the whole thing collapse around me and let me flail for about 20 minutes before reigning things in a bit. Can I say again that it was horrible? But, I learned SO much from the experience. Now, I don't think I could run a group tomorrow (and certainly not with no prep). But, I got through it and am better for the experience.
I am not suggesting you offer to run group or anything like that. But, remember that this is a learning experience. You likely won't wind up in psych, but what you take from this rotation can help your ability to communicate effectively with your patients in the future, regardless of whether or not they have mental health issues.
shortnorthstudent
357 Posts
I know it is easy to say "it's just psych." Most of us will not wind up specialized in psych. But, each of us will deal with patients with psych issues in our careers. Maybe they won't be patients who would necessarily be found at an inpatient facility, but every patient is afraid and stressed in some way. Some of thsoe will exhibit depression, anxiety, underlying personality disorders and more. Psych isn't "just psych" it is an opportunity to learn how to communicate with individuals experiencing illness that isn't easy to see and treat with an IV or surgery.
I am in the midst of my psych rotation ATM. It is interesting and scary all at once. I do not see myself choosing to become a psych nurse, but I am learning a ton about communicating with clients. A few weeks back, my clinical instructor put me in charge of leading a group session on sleep hygiene. I had only about 15 minutes prep time and hadn't had an opportunity to observe a similar group. My entire clinical group was there and it was embarrassingly awful. I had patients who got up and just left in the middle of it is was so awful. My CI let the whole thing collapse around me and let me flail for about 20 minutes before reigning things in a bit. Can I say again that it was horrible? But, I learned SO much from the experience. Now, I don't think I could run a group tomorrow (and certainly not with no prep). But, I got through it and am better for the experience.
I am not suggesting you offer to run group or anything like that. But, remember that this is a learning experience. You likely won't wind up in psych, but what you take from this rotation can help your ability to communicate effectively with your patients in the future, regardless of whether or not they have mental health issues.