Reflective Journal Acute Psychiatric Ward, Ridge Meadows, Maple Ridge.

Student Name Dermot Connolly Stenberg College

Monday Dec 10th 2012 Today I was assigned a new patient as my patient from last week was discharged. My patient suffered from severe anxiety causing body tremors which impacted his ability to ambulate himself. I spent most of today working with the health care worker recording the patients fluid intake and outtake. This involved implementing his toileting schedule in which he was placed on the toilet every two hours. My patient rarely spoke and I felt he was quite anxious around me as he did not know who I was and I realized that the establishment of any kind of a therapeutic relationship was going to be difficult. I also attended my first group today, which I really enjoyed; I assisted in encouraging patient participation which allowed me to gain insight into how many patients viewed group therapy. All those that attended yesterday were first time attendees and I felt they found it quiet beneficial. I did note however that several of the other patients had no desire to attend group as they felt it would not benefit them. I was drawn to the fact that perhaps the real reason some people were not comfortable attending was because they were very resistant to exploring new methods of communication and perhaps are not comfortable sharing in a larger group setting. Tuesday Dec 11th 2012 I was assigned a new patient today as my patient from yesterday was discharged to PATH. I have found this clinical rotation to be much different to older adult in that it is extremely difficult to develop a therapeutic relationship with the patients as many are discharged very quickly after being admitted. Todays patient was a 43 year old patient suffering from depression who was admitted after an unsuccessful attempt to commit suicide. I completed a mental status exam on him today and I was concerned that he spent much of his morning lying in

bed, getting up just to have breakfast. I expressed my concerns to one of the other nurses who went down to the patients room, left his clothes on his table and told him to get up and go to group before walking out the door again. I felt embarrassed for my patient as I felt he was humiliated by being treated like a child who didnt want to get out of bed. I felt there was no compassion or attempt to understand why he felt the need to remain in bed. This was my ethical issue this week. I also found this week to be quiet beneficial in helping me to practice my charting and I feel I have started to develop a routine where I can conduct my assessment on my patient and charting that interaction in a timely manner.