Psych Clinicals

This quarter I have been doing my Psych clinicals at Navos Health Solutions in West Seattle. There are 5 students in our group and we are divided on 2 floors each with about 34 patients. We are so blessed to have such a great clinical instructor, he is actually a psych nurse and teaches our Psych theory. I have one more day left this Tuesday, and next week we will switch locations with the other half of our group. We have been doing psych for 5 weeks, and next we will do 5 weeks of OB at Valley Medical Center :)

Last week they had a coffee cart for the nurses and as student nurses we got to reap the benefits! Such a treat after long 8 hr shift :)

Our clinical group (left to right)

Ruth, Jenni, me, Krista, and Jocelyn (who is going to Vietnam as well!)
Attempt at a group picture....

All I can say about psych is wow, what a learning experience! I was terrified for this clinical rotation and definitely lost sleep the night before our first day. It all turned out well, I have plenty of stories and had multiple great conversations with patients! We got to lead community meetings and we did a "Grooming group/Spa day" for the patients once a week which they loved! They were so thankful to have someone paint their nails or help them with make up. One week we even brought in a parafin hand wax and did those :)

I don't think my calling is psych, but it is definitley a population that has a negative stigma and deserves just as much care as any other population. The nurses and staff we worked with were amazing and taught us a ton!