I can still remember how I felt the morning I started my first placement. It was a pretty unexciting area, basically a hostel for this who were well enough to leave hospital but not quite well enough to be living fully independently.
Now, I am not an overly confident person and I usually get very anxious and tend to chicken out over things that challenge me. But this was something I wanted and I knew that to get anywhere I was going to have to 'grab the bull by the horns'. I can clearly remember standing at the end of the pathway, taking in a deep breath and then walking up to a door.
The first thing I can truly remember feeling was confused. This so called clinical area was just a house; how was I meant to be a nurse in a house? Of course I was very wrong, you don't need to be in a hospital to be a nurse.
After the door had opened, I was ushered straight into a nursing office where I was introduced to my mentor. I can remember feeling very awkward and in the way. The thing to remember about your first placement in MH nursing is that your first weeks will probably be 9-5, which is great to get you orientated to the ward, but by the time you've arrived the nurses who you are meant to be shadowing are already 2 hours into the shift, which means your mentor will be going home 2 hours before you. The first week is always awkward.
I feel ashamed to say that I have made it this far through this post without mention one of the most important people you encounter. Your patients.
There is a lot of stigma related to mental health. All schizophrenics are violent. OCD is a about being overly clean. It must be fun to experience being high with bipolar. All of these have some truth to them, but it's like the saying "you can't tar everyone with the same brush". I unfortunately had a lot of these stigmas in my mind when I first met one of the patients.
How wrong could I have been. I soon began to realise that the people I would be working with, were just like you and me. They had an illness and needed help to get better. Their illness wasn't them, it was apart of them, but they all had lives outside of it. True some were more isolated than others because of their illnesses, but from my recollection they were all lovely. They were very aware that it was my first placement and even allowed me to administer medication, something I was very nervous about.
I can honestly say that the patients are what make my course so enjoyable. I have met many a character and the majority will stay in my mind for ever. I hope to tell you a bit more about my favourite and sometimes harrowing experiences, but now is not the time.
More to come with tips on entering your first placement, so keep an eye out!
An Anonymous Nurse
How wrong could I have been. I soon began to realise that the people I would be working with, were just like you and me. They had an illness and needed help to get better. Their illness wasn't them, it was apart of them, but they all had lives outside of it. True some were more isolated than others because of their illnesses, but from my recollection they were all lovely. They were very aware that it was my first placement and even allowed me to administer medication, something I was very nervous about.
I can honestly say that the patients are what make my course so enjoyable. I have met many a character and the majority will stay in my mind for ever. I hope to tell you a bit more about my favourite and sometimes harrowing experiences, but now is not the time.
More to come with tips on entering your first placement, so keep an eye out!
An Anonymous Nurse
