Week Twelve

March 23rd, 2008 - March 29th, 2008

ACTIVITES:

• Contact three previous mental health centers for medical records on patient K
• Set up a home visit for patient W
• Attend morning report
• Attend treatment team meeting

REFLECTION:

This week at Larue, I have been really busy! I was approached by patient K early this week with a request I had not yet encountered on my practicum. He wants me to contact his past medical teams to try to get information for him and his doctor at Larue Carter. First, there were consent forms to fill out, then I had to contact his mother to get the names and addresses of these centers. Next, I had to fax the mental health centers, and finally, wait on the medical records to be released to Larue Carter. It was nice to hand the records to the doctor, and see how happy he was to get the information. Some of the information I found will be used next week in a big conference (people from IUPUI, Eli Lilly, Larue Carter, and various other mental health professionals will be there to discuss) about this patient.

I also talked with the treatment team, had the doctor write an order, and spoke with patient W about a weekend home visit. He had worked very hard to work "up the levels" to be eligible for this pass, so he was very excited to hear the good news. Floy asked me to call his sister and set up times. It was so nice to be able to pass on some good news to a patient who otherwise seems so depressed. It was the first time I'd seen him look happy since I'd known him.

INTEGRATION QUESTION: HBSE/Macro: How can you determine what the formal and informal boundaries are in a community?

I've always thought the best way to find the answer to something you don't know is just to ask! But in a community, if you don't know who to ask, I would say the best way to determine what the formal and informal boundaries are in a community are to observe (or "watch and learn").

Weekly Hours: 25

Hours To Date: 183.5

Week Eleven

March 16th, 2008 - March 22nd, 2008

ACTIVITIES:

• Take Quiz #1
• Attend daily report/take notes
• Attend weekly treatment team meeting
• Help facilitate Cognitive Distortions Group
• Help facilitate Art Therapy Group
• Help pass out/fill out medicaid papers

REFLECTION:

This week was also very similar to previous weeks. I had to take my quiz (on which was pretty upset with my score- I hate true/false questions!). At the agency though, things are running pretty smoothly. No major problems or concerns... No big exciting news... just another week at the hospital. I am preparing to complete my process recording, and looking foward to that- should be pretty interesting.

INTEGRATION QUESTION:

HBSE: How might your assessment of a client differ from that of another person on your team, such as a nurse, doctor, or teacher?

This is a pretty easy question for me, because I have been noticing differences like these since day one. When the interdisciplinary team (of doctors, nurses, dieticians, chaplains, social workers, psychologists, etc.) all get together, it seems that each of us are monitoring different aspects of the clients hospitalization. Doctors want to know about the medications (compliance, dosage, side effects, etc). Nurses want to know about vitals and daily health (so that they can report to the doctor, if medication or other orders are needed). Dieticians, of course, are worried about nutrition, while chaplains are more concerned with the spiritual needs of the patient. As social workers, I feel like we act sometimes as the "glue". We don't need to know the medication dosages, but we do need to observe/be familiar with the clients behavior (speech, actions, etc) after taking such medications. We may not need to know the vitals of each patient, but if someone is unhealthy physically, they will not be feeling their best mentally. Food and spirituality also play a huge role in how a person feels. Our job is to advocate (or voice) the concerns of the patient, and do whatever we can to help them on their journey through recovery.

In assessing a patient, we may want to know typical demographics, such as, addresses, phone numbers, contacts, etc. We might also ask for any family history of physical or psychiatric illnesses or treatments. Nurses may need this info as well, but what we do with this information is completely different. Nurses need to know blood pressures, heart rates, temperatures, etc. These are equally important in keeping the person alive and well. I find it interesting the ways in which our team interact, share information, and overall work together to help the patient in evrey way we know how. :)

WEEKLY HOURS: 28.5
HOURS TO DATE: 158.5

Spring Break

March 9th, 2008 - March 15, 2008

Spring Break

Weekly Hours: 1
Hours to Date: 130

Week Nine

March 2nd, 2008 - March 9th, 2008

ACTIVITIES:

• Help Floy plan for art therapy group
• Take notes for Floy

REFLECTION:

Floy is out this week, and has asked me to take her place in the morning report with treatment team, as well as hang around the unit and answer any patients' requests. I also attended groups with Michael Kura and other Larue Carter staff. Overall a good week.

INTEGRATION QUESTION: Policy/macro: What are the time frames needed for developing a treatment planning your agency from the time that the client enters your program. Who dictates that policy?

There are no set time frames for any patient at Larue Carter. Working in mental health, it could be very stressful to try to put deadlines on treatment plans. We do have a set day for treatment plans: Tuesday mornings. Each newly admitted patient is seen in treatment team every other week. After they've been there for awhile, and are stabilizing, they are seen once each month. After that, they may be seen once every other month. However, each treatment plan is completely individualized and timing is completely determined by each individual patient.

Weekly Hours: 22
Hours To Date: 129

BOOK REVIEW

BOOK REVIEW

As I was searching socialworktalent.net for a practicum placement last semester, I read through some of the requirements of other placements for mental health. I think it was a placement at Midtown Mental Health Clinic under the supervision of Dr. Moody which required students to read this book. I did not choose the practicum placement with Dr. Moody, but knowing I would be working with severely mentally ill patients, thought this book would be a great help in understanding the mind of a schizophrenic. My prediction was very accurate.

This book, The Quiet Room, re-tells the true story of Lori Schiller and her own encounters with schizophrenia. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the field of mental health, or anyone who has directly or indirectly been affected in some way by schizophrenia.

I did not write the following paragraph, rather copied it from the back of the book. I thought it sums up the story beautifully. The back of the book reads, "At seventeen Lori Schiller was the perfect child--the only daughter of an affluent, close-knit family. Six years later she made her first suicide attempt, then wandered the streets of New York City dressed in ragged clothes, tormenting voices crying out in her mind. Lori Schiller had entered the horrifying world of full-blown schizophrenia. She began an ordeal of hospitalizations, halfway houses, relapses, more suicide attempts, and constant, withering despair. But against all odds, she survived. Now in this personal account, she tells how she did it, taking us not only into her own shattered world, but drawing on the words of the doctors who treated her and family members who suffered with her. Moving, harrowing, and ultimately uplifting, THE QUIET ROOM is a classic testimony to the ravages of mental illness and the power of perseverance and courage."

Spending long hours within the cement walls of Larue Carter Memorial Hospital, I found it almost eery the parallels between "Lori's world" and the world of Larue's patients. The way she talked, the way she thought, the medicines she was taking, the lingo and procedures of the nursing staff... all the same. I enjoyed reading the testimonies from Lori's family. I get to see some of the patients' families about once a month, but never get to spend too much time really talking with them, and understanding where they are in their minds. This book painted a much clearer picture of that for me.

Week Eight

"Cognitive Theories..."

February 24th, 2008 - March 1st, 2008

ACTIVITIES:

• Think up ideas for Art Therapy group for Floy
• Attend Cognitive Disorder group w/ Michael Kura
• Print out sign in sheets for treatment team planning meeting and turn them into Deb Skinner
• Turn in Midterm Evaluation

REFLECTION:

Floy is out this week, taking care of her daughter who is having multiple medical procedures done. I pray that everything turns out OK for her and her family. In the meantime, I am continuing to attend groups with the patients from our unit, getting to know them better, and taking notes of things happening on the unit for when Floy returns. I am also getting the opportunity to follow different social workers in the hospital, and get a feel for different units and their patients. This Thursday, I am going around with Michael Kura to do psych testing on newly admitted patients. I am very intrigued by all of this, and expect to blog all about it later this week!

INTEGRATION QUESTION:

HBSE/micro: What theories of development would be useful for you to know about in your field placement?

I find this to be a very interesting question, working in a psychiatric hospital. Each patient is so unique, and may require different theories to be treated most effectively. In group with Michael Kura, we focus mainly on cognitive theories. That is, how we think, what we think, and when and why we think what we think (you think you got all that?). I believe in the field of mental health, these questions are very common among patients. In order to correct their thinking patterns, they need to be more in tune with them, and understand them better.

Weekly Hours: 21.5
Hours to Date: 107