I got to do my rotation in Gainesville at Laurelwood. Laurelwood is a psych hospital that has 3 units (kids, kinda crazy/addicted adults, & super crazy adults- my definition of course). Laurelwood handles all kind of psychiatric people and those who need detox. My first day I got the official tour, my keys and the do's and dont's. I got to see the room where they put people who need to "calm down" in, it was like the movies. It was an all cement closet like room with a bed with straps on it. No windows just concrete walls. As we continued on the tour, unlocking and locking doors as we entered/exited a unit.
Rule #1 never bring cans (ie no Diet coke cans) or pencils on any units as they can be used as "weapons".
Rule #2 When you take a patient into a therapy room always sit closest to the door as an easy escape. Rule
#3 Always let the nurses know when you take a patient to a therapy room and remember the further you go away from the nurses station they cant see you.
Rule #4 I learned later at the ER with the intake crew. I was introduced to the room that the ER puts the really crazy patients. The room looked like the one from laurelwood except the mattress was laying on the floor. The intake guy informed me to never go in that room and let the door close. Because once the door closes it locks from the inside and is also sound proof. So after learning the rules I was officially frightened to be at Laurelwood.
My day consisted of talking to inpatients on the units while my doc took care of his outpatients. I also went to group meetings and hung out with the intake office. The good news was I was not alone, there was another student with me except for my last week. So we went together to talk to people. I loved to go to the kids unit as I always felt like I could really help them. The adult unit consisted mostly of people who were alcohol addicts, depressed/suicidal - we went her a lot also. The crazy ward (severe schizophrenics) we did not see a lot on our own as the doc preferred he was with us.
Like I said I spent the majority of my time with the kids. The girls I remember most. The first week I met this girl who had threatened to kill herself bc of a boy and her family put her in the hospital. The first night she was in there her boyfriend hung himself. I was so very upset and could not imagine how to talk with her. I knew then that this was going to an interesting/challenging rotation.
Then I met my 12 year old girl who didnt want to fall through the cracks of society. She loved to use big words & quote the bible. She had attempted to kill herself several times and was sexually abused by an uncle. I spent a lot of time talking to her. It was hard bc she talked like an adult but you had to remind yourself she was not. We spent a lot of time discussing that the past was the past and she did not need to let it control her life. We sent her home and the next day she was back. She tried to hang herself in the bathroom and her stepmom caught her. She told me once that I did not know what it was like to be poor as I had lots of money. She could tell by my clothes. She was real shocked to her that I lived in a trailer park, got clothes from walmart/kmart, lived on food stamps for awhile, and had divorced parents. She didnt believe me at first and didnt think getting clothes from walmart was a big deal (how times change). I only hope that what little time I spent with her helped her to see that she was important.
I also spent time with some schizophrenics. There were all kinds. Ones who were very high functioning and for whatever reason stopped their meds and ended up at laurelwood. We got them back on meds = pretty normal people. However some were not as high functioning. We had this one lady that was there the whole time I was at Laurelwood. One morning I found her in her bed upset, when I asked what was wrong she informed me she was a tornado. She was sad bc she was blamed for all the bad weather but she couldn't help it. It was all I could do but laugh, which is a big no no as you don't want to encourage the story. The last patient I had was a lady who believed that her ex husband had her kids and was beating them. She heard it on the radio and saw it on the news. She was 100% positive this happened, she too stopped taking her medicine. Only bc the cops had switched out her pills. One day I was talking with her and she said that one of the women on the unit was pretending to be her aunt and was saying mean things about her. I was truly amazed by her. I spent time discussing how this woman could not be her aunt and part of her knew it wasn't but the other part really thought it was. Schizophrenia is such a fascinating disease- Adam thinks it crazy the diseases I find fascinating.
During this rotation I learned a lot about how to talk to patients and how to use antipsychotics.
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