This week at the San Marcos Treatment Center, I was placed with the CNC. I was unsure of what the role of a CNC was or what the term CNC stood for. After asking Ms. Sharp what the nurse’s role was and after observing the CNC, I then understood that she could be considered a charge nurse. I heard before from my peers that the CNC is always running up and down and is constantly busy. I quickly realized just how busy the CNC truly was and what her roles around the facility were. Although the CNC was very overwhelmed and also had someone orienting with her, I still believe that today I recognized the RN role when observing her and asking her various questions about what she does with the children.
Moreover, I am glad that I finally was able to get a better idea of what the role of an RN is at a mental health facility. While at the Methodist Hospital, the nurses never acknowledged us and hardly came out of the nurses’ station, so I never really got a good idea of what the RN’s at that health facility truly do. I learned that the CNC goes around passing medications, helps with discharge papers, and is a true advocate for these children because she tries to educate them as much as she can about their medications and specific diets. While looking at the children’s charts, I saw terms such as “doubles”, “LFHF”, “Ensure”, etc. It was refreshing that I could ask the nurse what these terms meant without feeling like she did not want me there bugging her or asking her questions. I learned that the CNC is also responsible for educating the children on their specific dietary meal plan and seeing whether one child needs a different plan than others. For example, I learned that the nurse puts the child on “doubles” if she sees that the child is in a growing state in which they require more macronutrients. I also learned that they also have children on low fat, high fiber diets if they have a past medical history that requires a low cholesterol and high fiber diet. After looking at charts, the CNC dropped my peer and I at the cafeteria. It was interesting to see how well these children knew what their diets consisted of. For example, I was sitting with two children and one of them was a child in the third grade, who although looked very thin, eating everything on his plate. I acknowledged the fact that it was good that he was eating and he then proceeding to tell me how he was on “doubles” and explained to me what that meant. It was interesting to see how this third grader knew how to explain his diet to me in such an intellectual way. He didn’t simply say “I need more food because I am growing”, but he was using terms such as “proteins”, “carbs”, and “vitamins”. At his age, I don’t ever remember using or knowing what these terms meant. The other child at the table was on an “ensure” diet. Although the CNC had not explained this diet to me, the child was able to let me know why he was on this type of diet. The child did not touch any of his food, and only drank his ensure meal replacement. I assume that this diet is for a child who is a picky eater and obtains his nutrients through more of a meal replacement source. It was neat to see how this kid was reading his food label on the back of his meal replacement shake. When I asked him what he was reading off the label he stated to me that he was seeing how much sugar this shake had. It was astonishing to me how much these children knew about the food they were consuming and why they were consuming it. I have learned throughout my nursing courses, that as a nurse, one of our biggest roles is educating our patients. It was refreshing to see how well this CNC had educated her patients and to see how these young children are starting to pay attention to such an important aspect in their life at such a young age. The children would even educate each other on their diets as they ate. I now understand that the role of a nurse at a mental health facility isn’t just helping treat signs and symptoms associated with the child’s mental diagnosis, but how it also involves helping educate and treat the child’s other health concerns such as diet.
This event has impacted me because it has allowed me to see how nurses are important educators to their patients. It’s amazing how well kids retain information we may not think that they can understand, such as explaining to them why looking at a food label is important. This event has taught me that as a future nurse we should try educating our patients as much as possible in hopes of them acquiring healthier habitats at a younger age. As a nurse education is important in regards to trying to prevent avoidable health concerns from occurring. I now understand the role of a mental health nurse a lot better because I see that it is not just all about passing medications that will help treat their signs/symptoms of their mental health diagnosis, but that one can also help treat, promote education, and prevent other health concerns.
This knowledge gained throughout this clinical experience will allow me to keep in mind that educating a patient is important and that we must not assume that a patient already knows what we are educating them on. There have been several times that I have questioned whether I should educate a patient on eating low sodium foods if they have a history of hypertension, because I assume that they should already know this information. However, I have found many patients who did not know they should be limiting their sodium, and thus, bringing up this information to them has been helpful. This experience will alter my future nursing career by reminding me why a nurse’s role of educating a patient is so important and that one should not make assumptions prior to educating a patient that may impair them from receiving all the information they may need.