Last week during my internship at Newton Wellesley Hospital, I had the experiance to shadow a nurse in the physchiatric ward of the hospital. I spend the entire day in the ward which gave me a great oppertunity to see the daily routine of a nurse.
I showed up on Tuesday, promptly at 9:15 am, nervous as to what I was going to see, hear and experiance. I showed up at a double set of locked doors, buzzed in and walked down a long streach of hallways through the East wing (which deals with older and less manic patients) to USEN 4 where patients battle with severe phyciatric problems from bi-polar disorder to depression. I passed through another set of double locked doors and entered into the unit. Where I was then introduced to the nurse I would be shadowing for the day. The first thing I noticed was the lack of light in the unit, there were limited windows and the walls were dark, the entire unit was drained of color. The patients rooms were bare and limited each room had two beds, two side tables, one bulit-in desk. There were no outlets in the rooms and patients did not have acesss to T.V, internet, or phone. There was a phone at each end of the hall for patient use, one T.V in the community room and, computers were only allowed when patients were supervised. Since patients have limited access to the outside world, patients in the unit are able to attend any of the multiple acitivites that happen throught the day. All patients are enouraged to go to as many groups as possible but are not forced to. Every Fifteen minutes a nurse goes on "rounds" where they check on patients and record where they are at that time. Patients have specific times where they are allowed outside to a inclosed patio and are watched the entire time. I started of my day attending a morning group called "goal group" this is a time where patients make small goals that they can achieve that day. Goals ranged from getting discharged, to attending as many groups as possible that day. I watched how medicane was distrubted to patients, I interacted with patients and By the end of the day I was sitting in on an interview with a nonresponding patient who was being admitted to the unit.
I really enjoyed the opperunity I was able to experiance last week at the hospital. I learned alot about patients and their struggles, along with how they are treated to get back on their feet and healthy. I also got to witness how hard it is to be a phychatric nurse, I have alot of respect for these caring nurses who still do all they can to help their patients improve. After being called nasty names, being hurt emotionally and physically at times.