Journal Entry
Journal
In 450–500 words, address the following:
Learning From Experiences.
- Revisit the goals and objectives (See below) from your Practicum Experience Plan. Explain the degree to which you achieved each during the practicum experience.
- Reflect on the three most challenging patients you encountered during the practicum experience. What was most challenging about each?
- What did you learn from this experience?
- What resources were available?
- What evidence-based practice did you use for the patients?
- What would you do differently?
- How are you managing patient flow and volume?
- How can you apply your growing skillset to be a social change agent within your community?
Objective 1: By the end of 10th week, I will be confident in developing plan of care for an age-appropriate individualized.
Objective 2: By the end of this semester, I will accurately document recommendations for psychiatric consultations independently when applicable.
Objective 3: By the mid practicum session, I will be confident in Identifying some ethical and legal dilemmas with possible resolutions.
Journal Entry
My practicum plan entailed three objectives that I hoped to achieve by the end of the semester. The first objective was that by the end of the 10th week, I would be confident in developing an individualized plan of care that was age appropriate. The second objective was that by the end of the semester I would be able to accurately document recommendations for psychiatric consultations independently. The third objective is that by the mid-practicum session I will be confident in identifying some ethical and legal dilemmas and subsequently come up with possible solutions. I was able to achieve the first objective within the planned time by being able to design an individualized and age-appropriate plan for diverse patients based on their health conditions, health history, and patient preferences. By the end of the semester, I was able to achieve the second objective regarding being able to independently document psychiatric recommendations. I was able to document the recommendations without any help from my supervisors. By the mid-practicum session, I was able to achieve the third objective of being capable of identifying both legal and ethical dilemmas in clinical settings and subsequently coming up with suitable solutions.
In the course of my practicum, I experienced three challenging patients who presented to the office with diverse issues. The first person was a minor with Autistic Spectrum Disorder who was difficult to keep calm and settled during the session, the second patient was a patient suffering from Substance Abuse Disorder who had incoherent thought and speech patterns. The third patient was a patient with Bipolar Maniac episodes with the most challenging part being able to keep her calm and cooperative throughout the session.
The practicum experience made me aware of the challenges that psychotherapists experience in their line of work. For example, sometimes it can be challenging to make a patient cooperate which unfortunately would impair the diagnostic process. However, I got the opportunity to learn and acknowledge the importance of creating a safe environment for the patients, which can be done by establishing a therapeutic relationship, which would make the patients feel secure and have no difficulties trusting the psychiatrists. Besides the therapeutic relationship, it would also be effective to engage the patients in relaxation techniques to enhance cooperation and calmness during the sessions.
During this practicum experience, I used several resources, which I believed would have aided in the decision-making process to provide safe and quality services to the patients that I was seeing. Some of the resources that I utilized included the nurse managers, my supervisors, and evidence-based guidelines from publications, online resources such as peer-reviewed articles, government agencies’ websites, and guidelines from professional mental health organizations like the American Psychiatric Association.
The evidence-based guidelines that I used with the patients include psychotherapy such as cognitive behavioral therapy and the prescription of pharmacological agents that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration Agency (FDA) for the management of different mental health conditions. Moreover, I used deep and rhythmic breathing as a relaxation technique to calm the patients.
Based on my practicum experience, what I would do differently the next time would be to engage the patients in more activities other than breathing exercises to improve their concentration and cooperation during the sessions. I am managing patient volume and flow through proper time management, which enables me to spend quality and adequate time on each patient for thorough and satisfactory service delivery.