Mental Health?

Trauma Columnist · Aug 18, 2006

When I did psych clinicals, we had to go to a state institution (locked ward) and interact in the milieu. I was very stressed over the whole experience and I remember a lot of details about that clinical setting and it happened in 1994.

I then went on to do 10 years of ER and encountered a lot of psych patients and really enjoyed working with them. I especially loved my MSN clinical on the streets with a crisis team. So - there can be a lot of different settings.

firstyearstudent · Aug 19, 2006

It was so much fun! Our CI was great, though. We didn't do meds or any procedures (we did do tests/assessments/car plans) and were not supervised directly during interactions (no one looking over your shoulder) which made things so much more pleasant than med-surg. The only folks who had problems were those who were completely freaked out by insane people -- and those only for the first two or three weeks.

allthingsbright · Aug 19, 2006

Ok, thanks guys...I think I am freaked by the amount of paperwork we have to do? I think the care plans are just really different...should be interesting, tho!

BeccaznRN, RN · Aug 19, 2006

Our mental health clinical was fairly low-stress (compared to med/surg!). It was one day a week for about 14 weeks, and we were assigned to the psychiatric unit of a large teaching hospital. I thought it was great because there were different units and we rotated through them all for one day - units included acute care, adult inpatient, geriatric inpatient, a day program, a chemical dependency unit, and the ECT lab. Our other clinical days were spent out in the community at an adult day care center, a day spent in an organization called "Places for People," and also a day shadowing a school nurse in a school that provided education for children with behavioral disorders.

We were only required to write two complete care plans, but we were required to submit a journal entry after each clinical day. We didn't pass meds but we did sit in on a lot of group therapy, look at clients' charts, and communicate with them.