"What have I got myself into?!"
January 7th, 2008 – January 9th, 2008
ACTIVITIES:
- Meet Floy
- Meet other staff
- Orient myself to unit
REFLECTION:
Tuesday was my first day at Larue Carter Memorial Hospital. I parked out front, and walked through the main entrance promptly at 7:50AM. A security guard stopped me, asked for my name, and told me to wait in the waiting area for my field instructor, Floy Hodson. What an experience that was. I waited patiently, watching patients, patient’s families, and staff walking in and out of the building. I saw an older woman signing (sign language) to a younger deaf man in a wheelchair. I smiled at a few passers-by, and they smiled back. Then I nodded at another individual standing by the security window. He was rocking backing and forward and apparently did not like my smiling and head nodding in his direction. He moaned back at me. “I have had a little bit of experience in the mental health field,” I thought. But from day one, I knew I was in for a crazy ride…
INTEGRATION QUESTION:
After meeting your first client, can you tell what stage of development they are at, according to the theories you have learned in human behavior?
I haven’t really been “assigned” any patients just yet. I am working with Floy, just getting oriented to her unit, 3E- Adult Unit, and getting to know some of the patients there. But of the patients I have met, and had a chance to sit down and talk to, I still think this question is a little difficult to answer. Working with mental health, precise developmental stages may be ambiguous, due to the nature of the patient’s mental illness.
Because it is an adult unit, all patients here are over the age of 18. However, some are performing at the developmental stage you would typically associate with a 7 year old. For example, one patient, Jessica, is 18 years old, but insists on sucking her thumbs, carrying dolls, and throwing temper tantrums (actually, I hear temper tantrums are common with a lot of our patients).
I would say, due to the nature of their illnesses, many patients at Larue Carter are developmentally behind typical development of their peers. However, there could be many exceptions. I guess I’ll find out… in time.
Weekly Hours: 1
Hours to Date: 1
Tuesday was my first day at Larue Carter Memorial Hospital. I parked out front, and walked through the main entrance promptly at 7:50AM. A security guard stopped me, asked for my name, and told me to wait in the waiting area for my field instructor, Floy Hodson. What an experience that was. I waited patiently, watching patients, patient’s families, and staff walking in and out of the building. I saw an older woman signing (sign language) to a younger deaf man in a wheelchair. I smiled at a few passers-by, and they smiled back. Then I nodded at another individual standing by the security window. He was rocking backing and forward and apparently did not like my smiling and head nodding in his direction. He moaned back at me. “I have had a little bit of experience in the mental health field,” I thought. But from day one, I knew I was in for a crazy ride…
INTEGRATION QUESTION:
After meeting your first client, can you tell what stage of development they are at, according to the theories you have learned in human behavior?
I haven’t really been “assigned” any patients just yet. I am working with Floy, just getting oriented to her unit, 3E- Adult Unit, and getting to know some of the patients there. But of the patients I have met, and had a chance to sit down and talk to, I still think this question is a little difficult to answer. Working with mental health, precise developmental stages may be ambiguous, due to the nature of the patient’s mental illness.
Because it is an adult unit, all patients here are over the age of 18. However, some are performing at the developmental stage you would typically associate with a 7 year old. For example, one patient, Jessica, is 18 years old, but insists on sucking her thumbs, carrying dolls, and throwing temper tantrums (actually, I hear temper tantrums are common with a lot of our patients).
I would say, due to the nature of their illnesses, many patients at Larue Carter are developmentally behind typical development of their peers. However, there could be many exceptions. I guess I’ll find out… in time.
Weekly Hours: 1
Hours to Date: 1
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