My Experience At The Florida State Mental Hospital

In my future social work career, it is imperative to be cognizant of my personal experiences and preconceptions regarding mental illness. As I participant in evaluation and diagnosis of mental illness, I will utilize a blank slate mentality. I will strive to prevent previous clients’ behavior, the individual’s current diagnoses, and personal judgments to cloud my diagnosis or interactions.

For my seventh clinical shift at the Loma Linda Veterans Affairs Medical Center, my assigned preceptor Filipina Gumangan assigned me three patients on the 4NW unit. The unit where I precept is an intensive care step down unit. Filipina’s objective for giving me three patients this shift was to give me an opportunity to continue exercising my time management skills and to practice my reporting and charting skills, and wound care. This shift I was responsible for many clinical duties corresponding to the care of these patients. My patients this shift were Mr. B, a 72 year-old Vietnam War veteran newly diagnosed with colon cancer, Mr. S, a 65 year-old Vietnam War veteran in the hospital for complicated urinary tract infection, Mr. R, a 90 year-old Korean and Vietnam War veteran. Caring for these patients taught me more about the humanbecoming perspective of nursing and showed me about multidisciplinary coordination with peers, colleagues, and more.

The mental health professional I interviewed was Carol McClelland of Freedom House Recovery Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Carol has worked with Freedom House for a year as the directory of outpatient services and is licensed as a LPC, LPCS, LCAS, CCS, and MA. Carol’s job requires her to be responsible for the direct oversight of all clinical operations and clinical integrity for outpatient services at Freedom House. The hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm, along with a crisis and detox center that is available for contact 24/7. Carol has plenty of experience in the mental health field, such as working as a dual diagnosis/substance abuse outpatient therapist, working with the severely mentally ill, working as a criminal justice outpatient therapist, and also working in a methadone clinic. She chose this career after her experiences in working with mental health, and her extensive education in psychology and counseling. Carol stated that outpatient services was the most interesting out of her job experiences, so when she was offered the job at Freedom House, she accepted.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Habersham County, Tom was feeling slightly nervous as he exited the staff lounge and entered the hustle and bustle of County Hospital’s ER to begin his first shift as an RN. The first few hours of his shift passed slowly as Tom mostly checked vital signs and listened to patients complain about various aches, pains, coughs, and sniffles. He realized that the attending physician, Dr. Greene, who was rather “old school” in general about how he interacted with nursing staff, wanted to start him out slowly. Tom knew, though, that the paramedics could bring in a trauma patient at any time.

Growing up I witnessed my sister and grandmother deal with serious mental illness. My sister and grandmother both were diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It has always been my passion to help them manages their episodes. Growing up witnessing these episodes I always knew that I wanted to help those who are struggling to cope with mental health issues. Social work is not just a passion of mine, but a solution to the struggles many people face every day. I learned my “caring and compassion” for others, from my mother. My early experiences were a driving force for me pursuing my master’s in social work. As a child, my mother took in adults, children, and families within our neighborhood and afar to aid them in difficult times. Whether it was for a meal, a night, or longer, she has spent her life caring for others. The passion my mother possessed for helping others has become my

Mary, the patient the study focuses on (surname withheld to uphold confidentiality), was chosen due to the writers involvement throughout the duration of her stay in hospital. The writer met Mary prior to her operation in theatre and was present for the duration of her operation. When Mary was admitted to ward L4 the writer was directly involved in Mary's care and discharge.

Most of my nursing career has been in clinics that serve patients who rely on government assisted programs and who have limited funding and resources. The last four years I have been dedicated to serving patients within the correctional settings. While this field of nursing can be very challenging at times it is also very rewarding knowing that I am a patient advocate for individuals who often get over looked do to some of their choices and their current situations. I am very passionate about providing healthcare and education to patients who are often times misunderstood due to learning differences. I have a very strong belief that our mental health is affecting the correctional population. Many patients are placed in correctional settings because they cannot conform to society or because they are unable to express and understand the reason they make some of the poor choices which lead them into a life behind

Psychiatric wards or mental institutions have been a hot topic in the past and even today. Many views have escalated to professional healthcare and psychiatry being good for people who are considered “crazy” or have mental disabilities. People think locking away these “crazy” people or people with mental disabilities and having them follow a strict schedule will help them. They believe it will not only help them, but the rest of the world as well. Other people consider patient violence towards professional nurses or workers at these mental institutions to be shockingly increasing over time.

Throughout her hospital stay, Ms CP was exceptionally helpful, providing detailed history to medical staff and volunteering in learning tutorials with medical students. She described the hospital as her “home” and spoke fondly of a childhood spent terrorising students and junior doctors while receiving treatment for her asthma. During comprehensive history taking and examination conducted by multiple health professionals, her descriptions shifted and evolved, often differing between healthcare providers and

“Both the book and the movie are insightful views into societal problems such as stereotypes about the people who have mental disorders. But the film is largely out of date in terms of depicting hospital staff as manipulative or evil. From what I saw when I worked in a similar institution, mental hospitals are a calm, healing environments—as they should be” (Wind Goodfriend, 2012).

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

That is why I’d primarily like to focus and enhance my knowledge on patients who suffer from mental health illnesses due to my current work experiences. My experience as a Mental Health Assistant, in a Psychiatric hospital for the

In the health care system, a multitude of errors occurs on a daily basis. Doctors, nurses, orderly’s, etc., everyone in health care settings has responsibilities that warrant careful attention. This was exhibited in the case study titled ‘An Extended Stay’. In this case study, we are introduced to a middle-aged man in his 60s named Mr. Stanley Londborg. He presented with several health conditions, including a seizure disorder, hypertension (also known as high blood pressure), and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Londborg was no stranger to the hospital and was known fairly well by faculty members. Londborg paid a visit to the Emergency Room at the hospital complaining of wheezing and breathing complications. The physician that examined Mr. Londborg yielded his symptoms as an acute worsening of

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.

Although doctors were supposed to be considered medical experts, they were not taken seriously due to the fact that a patient had less than a fifty percent chance of benefiting from a doctor’s visit (“The 1920s: Medicine and Health: Overview”, n.p.). Doctors struggled to diagnose and fix medical problems due to inexperience and lack of tools (“The 1920s: Medicine and Health: Overview”, n.p.). As a result of the substandard medical community, maternal deaths and child deaths were commonplace, while simple sicknesses often turned into fatal infections (“The 1920s: Medicine and Health: Overview”, n.p.). When the first wave of the influenza pandemic struck in the spring of 1918, the medical community was taken aback by the pandemic’s unpredicted wrath (Peters, 13). The typically mellow influenza virus, characterized by familiar symptoms of fever, headache, fatigue, cough, sore throat, congestion, and body aches, claimed victims within hours (Peters, ix, 1-5). This was a sickness like no other, and it left the medical community baffled. Doctors nor medical experts knew what the sickness was, why it was spreading, what was causing it, or how to fix it (Peters, 1-5). All branches of the medical field practically shut down: researchers found no potential