We began our psych nursing course today and clinicals start this Thursday. I've been told time and time again by my peers and instructors alike that I do very well with clients and that I do such a great job in interacting and talking with them. However, today my professor and clinical instructor (who is another professor in the department) was said we will have to unlearn everything that we just learned in Fundamentals. That Psych nursing is different and its not taking vitals, passing meds and all the other typical "nursing" stuff, but rather a lot of talking with our clients. I totally understand that, and am very intrigued, however when I volunteered for a role play exercise with my professor, I had NO idea how to refocus the conversation back to my client (i.e. my professor who was playing the part). When she went off on a tangent about how cute my glasses where and asking where did I get them, I went blank because I knew I shouldnt respond with "thanks, I got them at such and such place" and felt for the first time that I had NO idea what to say or do.
I understand how and why a therapeutic communication is supposed to work, and understand Peplau's model and the stages of development for a therapeutic relationship, however talking/interacting with a person in this manner seems so......I dunno, awkward I guess?
A long winded post later and I guess my original question was this: Will this style of communication/working relationship between nurse and client get easier? I fear that I will go to the unit on Thursday and Friday and just totally freeze come time to talk with a client, and thats not at all what I want!