Getting Into the Swing

Well, it's week three and things have been going pretty well.


The first two weeks of nursing school were pretty uneventful, but that's probably been a good way to ease us in.  Week one was orientation and HIPAA, HIPAA, HIPAA.  Week two was a lot of review and common sense information, with the exception of Nursing Therapeutics lab.  It's amazing how many skills we're learning in so short a time!  






I've also been to two clinicals for psychiatric nursing.  So far, I have done an intake assessment on a male patient with schizoaffective disorder.  This was slightly uncomfortable because I have never dealt with mental illness firsthand.  Asking a stranger extremely personal questions upon first meeting them is uncomfortable (although I should get over that soon, considering my future career), but asking someone who is manic is entirely different!  From your average stranger, you would expect an embarrassed mumble or a blush when they're asked if they've ever experienced physical, emotional, or sexual abuse.  However, with a patient with mental illness, you never know what response you'll get.  For example, my patient was laughing one minute, sobbing the next, and laughing again thirty seconds later.  It's slightly unsettling.  


However, overall, I was lucky because my patient was quite friendly and didn't seem to be bothered by my incessant questioning.  He was really sweet!  He was a great first patient to have, because he reminded me that underneath all the lability and mania, is just a person with a disease.  There is a real stigma attached to those with mental illness.  If someone has heart disease, no one judges them; if someone has an under-active thyroid, no one judges them.  So, why is it that a person diagnosed with "dysfunction of brain chemistry" is deemed an untouchable?  What is it about our culture that creates this prejudice?  I just hope that my attitude toward my patient was enough to put him at ease while I was interviewing him, and was enough to show him that I was there to listen and not judge.  


At lunch, a different male patient brought me a sweet tea, so I must be doing something right :) 


S