I am honored to be filling in for our beloved ixchel's WILTW thread once again.
As I continue adjusting to my new job as well as reaching the halfway point in my assessment class for my MS PMHNP progeam, I am glad to have this opportunity to reflect on what I have learned. I also really enjoy seeing what we can learn from each other and how our varying nursing roles result in varying weekly lessons.
Brain Development
I attended the third of my sexual reproductive health trainings this week, and learned a lot of new information about adolescent brain development and the translation of said development in various activities and education needs. I found it really interesting to learn a possible cause for the impulsivity, thrill seeking, and at times promiscuous behavior of many of the teens with whom I have contact.
The brain goes through a period of development during the adolescent period (ages 12-26) after which both the limbic system and prefrontal cortex ate completely developed. However, these two systems do not develop at the same rate. The prefrontal cortex develops more slowly than the limbic system. As the limbic system seeks pleadure, risks and reward and the prefrontal cortex is involved in logic and decision making, it would make sense that during adolescence teens seek thrills and rewards at a rate at which the prefrontal cortex cannot keep up.
Standardized Patients
As a student in a MS PMHNP program, I had a midterm in a OSCE environment and was required to conduct an H&P on a standardized patient. As I had used standardized patients in my RN to BS P
program I thought I knew what to expect. The experience was good overall.
However, I am short, barely over 5 feet. The standardized patient was 6'8". I had difficulty with the HEENT component if the exam because I could not reach the SP's face. This struggle got me thinking about how I would address this in an actual clinic. I had never encountered this issue (possibly because of the do I if setup). Any ideas?
Female Condoms
This week I found out that female condoms are still in use and provided to our clinic. We found this interesting because none of the nurses, PNPs or MDs have been using them in practice. When we got a new drluberyofcondoms from our DOH, there they were. We all has to figure out how to use them because we have not seen them or used them in quite some time.
