Congratulations to Nicole who graduated from the Psychiatric Nursing Program! We thank her for her hard work on the blog and wish her the best of luck in her new career. Questions and comments will now be disabled. Please watch out for a new Psychiatric Nursing Student Blogger in the near future!
Hi all!
I can’t believe we are already well into spring; clinical wraps up at the end of April, and we’re slowly heading into summer, my favourite time of year!
As we are in second semester now, balancing five full-time courses and clinical have been keeping me busy. Our clinical experience has been very interesting so far; the Okanagan cohort is studying at a long-term care facility in Kelowna. We have donned our scrubs and gloves and practiced our proficiency in care aiding, and now are moving on to nursing assessments and medication administration. Each week our repertoire of nursing skills continues to expand, and we get to put theory and knowledge into practice, which is very exciting! I was nervous at first to be starting a clinical in geriatrics; my passion definitely lies within the youth sector, so this required me to step out of my comfort zone! The experience has enlightened me and has certainly made me appreciate my youth and health, as well as the good health of my family.
This program covers anything and everything comprising the enthralling study of Psychiatry. My favourite areas of interest include therapeutic relationships, communication, and self-growth. These interests stem from my past struggles with anxiety, depression and mild obsessive compulsive disorder and attention deficit disorder. I was about six years old when I first began showing signs of these disorders, though I was not formally diagnosed until I was twelve. I have gained great insight from my education so far as to an understanding of my own past issues, as well as what I can do to continue to grow and develop as a physically and mentally healthy, successful person. This course has taught me so much about how the mind works, and what I as a future psychiatric nurse can do to help people struggling with mental illness.
The pressure is definitely on this semester, that’s for sure! Some of my peers during clinical said that I need to focus on taking some of that pressure off, and suggested dedicating one day a week to strictly ‘me’ time. So this week I am going to start my new regimen of Monday Funday; each Monday is my day for resting and relaxing (pending of course that I don’t have to work at the hospital!). While school is important and exciting, we all need to remember to keep the fun in our lives and create a healthy balance.
I am including a photo of the majority of my cohort; we are missing a few women! This was taken at the LTC facility where we have our clinical after a long day’s work! And of course, I had to include the Mental Health Awareness ribbon in the photo, because… Well, we are all in this to make a difference in Mental Health!
I hope everyone is enjoying the blog so far and is seeing how exciting this educational experience in Psychiatric Nursing can be! My encouragement for the week: Find your version of Monday Funday!
Cheers!
