One thing that I found working in mental health is the staff generally doesn't accept that the patient's reality is real to them. It can ware down on you at times, and you would be less than therapeutic If they see demons as hallucinations that is horrifying to them and it gets pushed off to the side more frequently than not. To me, that's got to be an unimaginable hell. These things are real to you sometimes horrifying and you're basically told that you are delusional or you're hallucinating these things are part of your illness.

Active listening and non-verbal communication can also play a huge factor in how your patient communicates with you. Maintaining eye contact is a good way to emit that you are paying attention to them as well.

The patients that I interacted with, for the most part depending on diagnosis, were very pleased and what seemed grateful for the interaction.

Description

The patients that I was focusing on were a small group of Caucasian males late twenties. They became fast friends they all had petitions on them from their family members citing bizarre behavior, threatening, and fearing for their lives. The delusions were anything from their family has been replaced, that Demons and computers were tracking their movements. They were all experiencing poor hygiene habits and very poor sleeping habits due to the self-medicating with methamphetamines. , By focusing on active communication skills we were able to gain a rapport with them and they with the gained trust were able to take their atypical antipsychotics and shown a marked improvement..

Feelings

Of course this made me happy and proud of myself I love seeing marked improvement with patients. To see Pts. Improve It is truly the best thing. Especially relatively young patients that have so much more ahead of them the only thing that I hope is that they don't fall into familiar patterns and abuse again.

Evaluation

I felt I was able to gain a better understanding of how to read my patients" verbal communication as well as their non-verbal. I was able to gain a decent and established rapport with my patients. The patients elaborated on why they felt they in the hospital. I was able to review her chart and go over her current medications as well.

Analysis

During my practicum experience, I implemented the use of therapeutic conversation and assessment skills while conversing with the patient. The patient's physical appearance, as well as their demeanor, were prominent factors in the assessment findings. Planning care and daily activities for the patient were also used. I educated that compliance with medication regimens were vital in limiting the number of hallucinations and delusions they were having. Evaluation of the patients' actions and behaviors after proper compliance with medications reveals the effectiveness the current treatment regimens which includes group therapy, medications and possible coping strategies.

Conclusion

When interacting with psychiatric patients at my during my practicum for this course, I have acquired a better understanding of the essential need for therapeutic communication and how well it can possibly deescalate a situation that is potentially going awry. I was able to maintain good communication with my patient as well as display empathy for thier thoughts and feelings

Action Plan

Personal growth is an awesome factor that comes with each patient that you can interact with. I know as a current psychiatric nurse; I will be better prepared to deal with and be more open minded to my patient's needs. So I need to defiantly need never forget how well therpetic communtication and active listing will help to gain trust and uerstanding