Today at clinical I fell in love…with the kind of nursing that I think is made for me…
Mental Health Nursing!
Yup, I think this is it.
Today was interesting to say the least. There are 8 of us students that are in clinical together. Out of the 8 I only believe 3 were comfortable working with the mental health patients. I was one of them. I loved it. We played volleyball with the patients that wanted to participate. And there was about 6-7 that came to play but 2-3 of the patients only hit the ball and left, while the others stayed and play for over a hour. And that is okay.
This is the only rotation where we will not be assigned patients….we get to choose our own. I have a person that I have in mind but it’s not set in stone. Next Monday we are having a picnic at the local park and are going to be able to interact with them and than we will pick our patient or they might pick us…
Now, this is not a serious locked up mental ward…Ottumwa actually announced yesterday they are closing that ward in the hospital this Friday. What a notice! But this is a place where the chronic patients are in a ‘secure’ facility and after they get their medications straightened out they move to a different floor to set their goals in life and this facility helps with reentering some, not all, of the patients back to the community….slowly. It takes the very minimum of 8-12 months if not more to get someone back in to the community.
Also in this rotation we get to go to the Bridge of Hope and the Family Recovery Unit at the hospital. Yup, that is where I got my job. I was excited about that. In fact we toured that floor today and they had a banner that said WELCOME HEATHER. How sweet is that?
Anyway, I do truly think that this is something that I am extremely interested in. If only I would have listened to my very first instructor at the college, Scott, because he told me that he sees me being a mental health nurse. Hmmm…maybe teachers do know best…well at times I suppose.
Since I started in nursing I just knew that I wanted to be a surgical nurse…no doubt. Today I think I have seriously changed my mind. I believe I found my calling today.
Who knows where nursing will lead me…
2 comments:
That is great that you have decided on what field to get into and getting to choose your own patient instead of having them chose for you! That is sweet, a Welcome Heather sign. Makes you feel welcome and at ease right away. I hope this works out well for you!
I know it was very welcoming to have that sign up. I hope that I enjoy my new job as much as I am thinking I will!
I do think that mental health nursing is for me!
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