This week at Methodist, I was placed on the chemical and substance abuse floor/ acute 2 floor. I had heard many good things about these floors due to how much patient interaction you are able to get. However, I had also heard many negative things about the nurses, especially the charge nurse, on this floor. When I arrived to this floor, I could immediately sense that the nurses did not want us there. The charge nurse even asked one nurse if we could follow her and she just made a face and said that she was too busy to have students. Although the nurses were not friendly at all, I told them that I was here to be productive and interact with the patients and went off to just find ways to help the techs and talk with the patients. I really liked how I was able to go to the group therapy sessions on both floors due to how they occur at different times. The therapists are very good with using their therapeutic communication with these patients. Today, I recognized that my therapeutic communication skills were improving when the therapist complimented on my therapeutic communication skills after talking to a patient during group.
I enjoyed being in their group therapy sessions because it made me realize that many of this patient’s go through things that we all do daily- such as anxiety, stress, and depression. I’ve learned in class that although we may all go through these situations that the reason they are in facilities like these is due to the fact that they do not know how to adequately cope with these daily stressors. Hearing some of these patient’s stories sadden me and made me reflect back on different ways I try dealing with stress in a positive way. At first, I was not sure whether I was allowed to give feedback to these patients while the group sessions was occurring. There was many times were I wanted to use my therapeutic communication with these patients but was not sure if I would get shut down by the therapist. However, the therapist eventually included me into the group discussion and asked if I had any input or whether I experienced any daily stressors. I was glad when he asked because this prompted me to try using my therapeutic communication towards one of the patients that made it seem like what he was experiencing was not normal. I used my therapeutic communication skills to let the patient know that the stressors he was going through were completely normal. I’ve learned in class that it is important to make the patient you are talking to understand that he is not alone, different, or abnormal because of what he may be experiencing. I continued speaking to him about how I daily also experience anxiety, stress, and depression and how I am sure that everyone does at some point in their life. I then continued to talk to him about different ways that he can cope with these daily life stressors and really seemed to touch this patient because he started to tear up in realization that the guidance and support I was giving him through my communication was genuine. At the San Marcos Treatment Center, I found it difficult to use my therapeutic communication because of the limited interaction that we had with the patients. Thus, I was glad to have been able to interact with a patient and use my therapeutic communication that has improved throughout my mental health clinical rotation. The interaction with this patient challenged the assumptions I had heard before about how these patients don’t truly want to change. Through the help of what I’m taught in my mental health nursing class, and throughout my experience at mental health facilities, I now see that these views that people have are untrue for some patients and that these people go through things that we all go through but just need help better coping with.
This clinical day experience has taught me that I am able to try using my therapeutic communication to try helping patients not feel alone or singled with the problems they are facing. Although some people may not understand what these patients are going through or understand why the resort to some of the negative coping mechanisms that they do, one should always try making these patients not feel singled out, listen to their specific concerns, and use therapeutic communication to try helping and/or guiding them. I was glad to have been asked by the therapist to say something to these patients, because it allowed for me to practice my therapeutic communication and get to know these patient’s concerns. Although I will be hesitant to speak to these patients during group since I don’t want to step over anyone else’s role, I will remember to also use my therapeutic communication to talk to these patients outside of group therapy.
I will use the knowledge gained during this clinical day in the future by using it to reminder myself of how these mental health patient’s may be going through similar things we all are going through and how I can use my therapeutic communication to address their concerns and help them see better ways to cope. If a circumstance like this occurs again, I will gladly take the opportunity to try speaking to these patients in a therapeutic way. I will use this experience in my future nursing career to remind me that all patients may be going through similar life stressors that must be addressed and discussed in a therapeutic, nonjudgmental, and effective way.