Gerbil

Thanks for the suggestions!! I think I might try some medication teaching as most of these patients are noncompliant with meds. I like the reminiscing idea also! :)

Hi! I'm a junior BSN student currently doing psych rotations on an acute psych floor. We have a variety of patients there, mostly schizophrenia and suicide attempts... and most patients are poor, uneducated and sometimes homeless. They are required to be up in the "day room" during the day as opposed to sitting in their rooms (unless acutely psychotic or violent/inappropriate). Do you guys have any suggestions on activities we can do with these patients? Like some kind of color/activity sheet or small artsy/creative project? They have a few games but most of the pieces are missing. Thanks for any suggestions!

Fig tree here - wow! :uhoh21:

we usually use: elastic recoil @ upper chest wall

Chim-chim Chickenfanny

To those of you who have quit or are feeling totally overwhelmed - it's ok! I have successfully made it through 3 semesters of pre-reqs and 2 semesters of nursing school in my BSN program and I will tell you this, everyone in the program (and I mean everyone!) was so stressed during the entire first semester with nursing stuff we all had the intention to change our major to business or elementary education! The first month was the worst. I would drive home crying everyday and cry on the way to class because I felt I was in over my head. I am one of the youngest students in my group and it just seemed that the non-traditional students had so much more knowledge from life-experience dealing with medical and nursing issues. Although I had a psych major lined up just in case, I just really decided to stick it out. One of my instructors told us the first day of class to just take one day a week during the weekend and do absolutely no school work, just rest. I think most of my fellow classmates were too wary to follow her advice, but since I was bordering on a nervous breakdown I decided why not give it a try. Having a day of "me" time has been my savior these last two semesters. I am quite a worry-wart and it is difficult to just say, oh I'll just do as good as I can do without getting too stressed over it. When I look back on it I am SO relieved that I stuck with it. The first semester was nursing school boot camp. I really believe it was just a "weeding out" of those who weren't meant to do this. Now my classes are so laid back and fun, my instructors are so much friendlier, and my courseload is much lighter that it seemed that first semester. Those of you who quit and regret it, don't hesitate to go back! Maybe the lighter semester will help you slide into the swing of things for nursing school. So anywho, my advice to you first-semester students is just to take a deep breath and realize how much smarter and stronger you will be when it is all over. If I can do it, anyone can!