Mental Health Clinical Reflection

This Case Study will be undertaken as a group activity and is designed to deepen your knowledge about mental illnesses, and to test your understanding about the nursing care of people suffering from such conditions. It will also assist you to express your ideas through class presentation and in writing.

During my shift on the Monday I had a client who’s husband was very involved in the care. He spent the majority of my shift in the room with his wife, helping her with meals and assisting her to the commode. I became evident that he really preferred directing her care. There was one instance where I had came in to preform the head to toe assessment but he was trying to get her up to the commode. She was experiencing 10/10 pain and neither of them had wanted my assistance. I felt almost helpless because I could tell she was in pain and his technique in lifting her was not helping either of them. After standing and observing for a couple attempts I explained that it would possible prevent some of the pain if there were two people of

In the United States the Mental Health Care field is one of the most underserved areas of healthcare. The mental healthcare field faces many challenges to the proper treatment of patients from both a societal and professional standpoint. From a societal perspective a negative stereotype is associated with patients seeking psychiatric care. Patients seeking care are often labeled as defective or damaged. Add in the complication that most patients with mental illness appear to be normal, accepting that someone is ill without outward symptoms can also be difficult for a society to understand. From a professional perspective the challenges within the mental health care industry include personal prejudice, staffing issues, and problems with coordinating care. The combination of these factors has a direct negative impact on the willingness of individuals suffering from mental illness in seeking the care needed to treat the symptoms of mental illness.

I see [hear] examples of how that would go every single day” (Burau, 2006). I currently work in the Mental Health Unit at St. Helena Hospital, so I’ve seen the effects of this firsthand many times. Many of the patients don’t have any family or are estranged from their family because of their mental health issues. From what I’ve seen, that takes just as much of a toll on the patients as their struggle with mental health. Dealing with mental health patients can be strenuous and dangerous, just like working in any branch of emergency services. We do a lot of speaking with, calming and listening to patients, similar to what dispatchers do during 911 calls. In less than a year working in the Mental Health field I’ve dealt with many stressful situations, and had to learn to leave my work at work, another concept Burau speaks about. Working in these fields and dealing with the raw patient experiences can take a

- The nurse has to preserve the client’s dignity and care about the well-being of client.

Describe a particular patient in the clinical setting, WITHOUT identifying information: Why was the patient at the clinic? Describe the clinical findings, kind of care, education, communication, and extra services that occurred with patient and family in this agency.

Traditionally, providing care for mental health in individuals has been cumbersome and costly for families (Seed, Torkelson, & Karshmer, 2009). This has resulted in inadequate care and patient outcomes for individuals across the nation (Seed, Torkelson, & Karshmer, 2009). Although there is insufficient use of the evidence-based practice model in psychiatric units, sometimes due to the lack of knowledge of mental health illnesses, there was improvement in care when there was a transformation in attitudes and current practices (Seed, Torkelson, & Karshmer, 2009). The CNL role has a focus on how we implement and execute evidence-based care, along with lateral integration of care, safety of the patient and staff, risk reduction, and keeping the cost fixed (Clinical Nurse Leader Association [CNLA], 2014). Because of the role that CNL’s have taken in psychiatric facilities, there has been an increase in compliance in patient care standards and satisfaction; and in safety. While on the other hand, a decrease in the length of stay for patients (Clinical Nurse Leader Association [CNLA], 2014).

The next time he decided that to administer insulin. Clinical assessors required to make professional judgements in interpreting what the minimum acceptable levels of competence are in respect to professional standards. These judgements are frequently made with in the role relationship of that of a mentor cum assessor to a student (Stuart 2005). As it is a skill involved, I found it was difficult for him to memorise all the step and rationales. I explained about my experience when I was a student nurse and concept of learning through practice. For students learning during clinical practice is a complex activity. The student has to contend and learn to deal with complex, unstable and uncertain worlds of practice (Schon 1987). With on going support I facilitated learning environment to practice the procedure under supervision

The purpose of this journal is to reflect on my experience and skills gained during my clinical placement at Ben Taub Hospital. On my first clinical day, I was excited and nervous at the same time. My first placement was in the PREOP/PACU area. I was assigned to help a patient who had been in the PACU area going on 2 days. Normally, once the patient comes from surgery they are only in the PACU area for a short period of time before they are discharged home or given a bed in another area of the hospital. This particular patient still had not received an assignment for a bed. The physicians would make their rounds to come check on him daily. The patient was a 28-year-old Hispanic male, non-English speaking, he had a hemicolectomy. He had a NG tube, urinary Foley catheter, and a wound vac. My preceptor had just clocked in and she needed to check on the patient’s vitals and notes from the previous nurse. Once she introduced me to the patient and explained while I was there, she then asked me to check his vitals. (Vital signs indicate the body’s ability to regulate body temperature, maintain blood flow, and oxygenate body tissues. Vital signs are important indicators of a client’s overall health status (Hogan, 2014). I froze for a quick second. I have practiced taking vitals numerous of times and I knew I could do it correctly. I started with the temperature first, when I was quickly corrected on a major mistake I had made by my preceptor. I HAD FORGOT TO WASH MY HANDS and PUT

Nursing values are the main responsibilities to guarantee that ethical standards are being met in practice (Canadian Nursing Association, 2008). While going through the decision making process, it is obvious that multiple nursing values had been violated. The main value that was marred was "Preserving Dignity: Nurses recognize and respect the intrinsic worth of each person" (Canadian Nursing Association, 2008). It is known that the client was in a delirious state that left them vulnerable. It is the prime opportunity to help that client maintain their dignity. Joking around and discussing about how annoying it is listening to the client is not respecting them, nor is it preserving their integrity. The client as a whole was ignored, instead

My reflective clinical practice experience was based on my eight weeks placement in an acute mental health ward in a hospital. I was not sure of what to expect because I have never worked or placed in an acute ward and this was my second placement. Before starting my placement, I visited the ward and was inducted around the ward. This gave me a bit of confidence and reassurance about working in an acute ward.

I felt that I was not prepared for placement in October because the summer break away from University made me forget quite a lot of the theory work, I learned during semester one and two. I often doubted myself at times because I felt that I couldn’t remember how to carry out a musculoskeletal assessment; which is important for assessing any soft tissue injury and making clinical decisions. My experience is similar to student nurse’s first time experience on placement and how they felt incompetent to care for their patient assignments. And were scared about making patient care decisions because they would be liable if anything went wrong (Fink et al., 2008).

The therapist met with the client for an individual session. The therapist greeted the client and checked the client’s mood. The client reported that she is sad because she is still feeling homesick and she stated, “I will tell my mother tomorrow how I feel being here at the facility and how much I feel homesick.” The client shared that she feels good towards the weekly tier work for this week and the questions of the tier work for this week made her think understand herself in a better way and she likes the idea of the home schedule time management. The client reported that she feels okay with herself being a life and happy although she has heard that her biological parents did not like her to be born and her biological father was pushing her biological mother to have a portion while she was pregnant.

During our return demonstration, we all felt like we needed to look to our instructor for guidance in what we should do. The reason for this was because we all lacked the confidence to feel like we knew what we were doing. If I could do it again, I would have liked to have been more knowledgeable about the scenario so that I could be more confident.

About one-quarter of all American adults suffer from a mental health disorder in any given year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Mental health is an important component of overall health and wellness. Treatment options often include medication and psychotherapy. Mental health nurses help patients who suffer from mental illness to recover their mental health so that they can live to their fullest potential. For example, mental health nurses work in a variety of settings, such as, psychiatric hospitals, substance abuse treatment programs, home healthcare services, community mental health agencies, and private practice. This paper will give a description of my clinical experience at a psychiatric hospital.