Revision [1264]

Last edited on 2007-01-22 19:48:08 by EmilyParobek
Additions:
__Last Updated: Jan. 22__
//running total hours: 121.5 out of 120//
The social worker on the ward was swamped with some work and an urgent situation with some other patient so he asked me if I would conduct informals for him. This is not the special group I used to run, it is the overall informals. I had to walk around with a clipboard of all the patient's names and mark down who was participating and eventually who actually performed appropriately and would thus receive a token. Usually half the patients don't even participate. The same occurred for today. Less than half the patients actually received a token. I found it was easy being the one "in charge" and communicating with the patients that they should be partaking in this. It's interesting to see a lot of patients being manipulative just for the token.
=====January 22, 2007=====
Today was my last day at the Buffalo Psychiatric Center. I passed to torch onto another Canisius student, who is also doing her practicum on the BRITE II ward, by showing her around and telling her things she needs to know about the patients and being on the ward.
At program time, we convinced a patient who normally doesn't participate to play a few games of Uno with us. We also played checkers and Battleship with another male patient who also doesn't normally participate in program. We also were able to sit in on a treatment team meeting discussing one patient's return to RCCA. This meeting was very interesting. The psychologist, psychiatrist, social worker, and a representative from RCCA came and sat down with the patient to discuss goals and a graduated plan to get him to start adapting to living in RCCA again. The patient was told to make up a list of goals and he even added a few of his own. It was a little frustrating watching the patient because I could tell he wasn't fully understanding concepts that Dr. Messer was talking to him about in regards to his living back at RCCA. This particular patient has problems with his emotions - he gets either too angry or too sad and it disrupts staff and sometimes gets out of control. He has to follow certain procedures when he becomes emotional and he has to not engage in activities that instigate his extreme emotions. I don't know what's going to happen to him because I have seen him come back to the ward to and from RCCA a few times already, I don't know if he can really pull through this time. After the meeting, Dr. Messer sat down with us and we talked about our thoughts regarding the meeting. It was a really "educational" last day.
I think that my experience at BPC has changed me for the better, made me more confident around a difficult population and helped me sort out what kind of career in psychology I want to pursue. It has helped me to understand mental illness, psychology, and therapist-client interaction better. My expectations for when I first knew where I would be placed for volunteering were very different than what I actually experienced. It wasn't anything bad, it was just not what I was expecting. Coming away from this educational experience, I have a lot of interesting stories to tell and a better understanding of myself. I don't have any regrets.
Deletions:
__Last Updated: Jan. 17__
//running total hours: 116.5 out of 120//
The social worker on the ward was swamped with some work and an urgent situation with some other patient so he asked me if I would conduct informals for him. This is not the special group I used to run, it is the overall informals. I had to walk around with a clipboard of all the patient's names and mark down who was participating and eventually who actually performed appropriately and would thus receive a token. Usually half the patients don't even participate. The same occurred for today. Less than half the patients actually received a token. I found it was easy being the one "in charge" and communicating with the patients that they should be partaking in this. IIt's interesting to see lot of patients being manipulative just for the token.

Revision [1261]

Edited on 2007-01-17 20:27:13 by EmilyParobek
Additions:
After a month away, it was not difficult coming back. Many of the patients remembered me and said hello and spoke with me. Only a few things changed - the no smoking policy is in place, and one patient was moved to another ward while a new one came. Things haven't really changed since the no smoking policy. There wasn't that much chaos as I had thought there would be. There was a person smoking in the bathroom though, but a lot of patients are trying to manage their habit through either nicotine gum or the patch. Additionally, the staff was having difficulties with a patient that suddenly decided to act out pretty bizarrely. This particular patient normally just sat around all day and didn't speak or participate in groups. Suddenly she was demanding to be off the ward and decided to "act up" and seek attention from others so that she could leave and be on another ward. It was a little disturbing seeing her act this way. One of the things she was doing was loudly humming nursery rhyme tunes.
Deletions:
After a month away, it was not difficult coming back. Many of the patients remembered me and said hello and spoke with me. Only a few things changed - the no smoking policy is in place, and one patient was moved to another ward while a new one came. Things haven't really changed since the no smoking policy. There wasn't that much chaos as I had thought there would be. There was a person smoking in the bathroom though, but a lot of patients are trying to maintain their habit through either nicotine gum or the patch. Additionally, the staff was having difficulties with a patient that suddenly decided to act out pretty bizarrely. This particular patient normally just sat around all day and didn't speak or participate in groups. Suddenly she was demanding to be off the ward and decided to "act up" and seek attention from others so that she could leave and be on another ward. It was a little disturbing seeing her act this way. One of the things she was doing was loudly humming nursery rhyme tunes.

Revision [1260]

Edited on 2007-01-17 20:26:42 by EmilyParobek
Additions:
__Last Updated: Jan. 17__
//running total hours: 116.5 out of 120//
=====January 17, 2007=====
After a month away, it was not difficult coming back. Many of the patients remembered me and said hello and spoke with me. Only a few things changed - the no smoking policy is in place, and one patient was moved to another ward while a new one came. Things haven't really changed since the no smoking policy. There wasn't that much chaos as I had thought there would be. There was a person smoking in the bathroom though, but a lot of patients are trying to maintain their habit through either nicotine gum or the patch. Additionally, the staff was having difficulties with a patient that suddenly decided to act out pretty bizarrely. This particular patient normally just sat around all day and didn't speak or participate in groups. Suddenly she was demanding to be off the ward and decided to "act up" and seek attention from others so that she could leave and be on another ward. It was a little disturbing seeing her act this way. One of the things she was doing was loudly humming nursery rhyme tunes.
At program time, I played scrabble with two patients, followed by the card game war. It was hard trying to keep a particular patient's attention. She kept talking to herself and wouldn't pay attention that it was her turn. I had to constantly remind her to come up with a word or to put a card down. I wish I had more knowledge on what to do in that sort of situation. When the rec therapist plays with her she gets the patient to respond quicker - I wish I had that magic touch. It was a long game...
The social worker on the ward was swamped with some work and an urgent situation with some other patient so he asked me if I would conduct informals for him. This is not the special group I used to run, it is the overall informals. I had to walk around with a clipboard of all the patient's names and mark down who was participating and eventually who actually performed appropriately and would thus receive a token. Usually half the patients don't even participate. The same occurred for today. Less than half the patients actually received a token. I found it was easy being the one "in charge" and communicating with the patients that they should be partaking in this. IIt's interesting to see lot of patients being manipulative just for the token.
Deletions:
__Last Updated: Dec. 18__
//running total hours: 111.5 out of 120//

Revision [1243]

Edited on 2006-12-19 05:09:46 by EmilyParobek
Additions:
When I came onto the ward today, there was music playing and the ward was participating in the "ward walk". The teacher monitors the patients while they walk around the whole ward in a circle. It is used to encourage exercise and movement and is an easy way to earn some tokens. Nevertheless, a few patients were having difficulties even walking around. One patient invited me to walk around with her, so I did. Another patient took too long to walk around just once because they kept being distracted. The patients must complete a certain number of laps in order to earn tokens. This is the only exercise a lot of the patients receive!

Revision [1242]

Edited on 2006-12-18 22:22:25 by EmilyParobek
Additions:
I sat in on group today with the rehab counselor who had some of the higher functioning patients. We talked about accepting personal responsiblity for life choices, such as not making excuses for what has happened to you. We related that to the patients' experience in the hospital, telling them that it is not good for them to be blaming other people as reasoning for why they are here in a mental hospital. Other advice included recognizing that only you determine how you handle situations, so seeing the good even in a negative situation can help you become more personally responsbile. One patient was really into the discussion and contributed a lot. It was nice to see some interest in a group.
The rest of the day I spent with Dr. Messer and the graduate student, who came back for a few hours to learn how to administer a psychological test. Dr. Messer taught us how to administer the WAIS-III (Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale) on a patient with average to above average intelligence. We went down to another floor of the hospital where there were psychological tests on file. The WAIS came in a brief case and contained a manual, some cards, blocks and a flip card booklet. I learned all the protocols for adminstering the test, and it was hard to get used to at first - everything has to be done in the exact same way so that the test's reliability remains in tact. It was also difficult to write down the examinee's responses and look up things in the manual at the same time. Needless to say, we did not get through the whole test. The patient was our guinea pig for about one hour, and then was tired and a little frustrated, so he left. After he left, we performed the tests on each other just so that we received some data that we could later use to learn how to score. The WAIS includes tests for verbal and non-verbal reasoning. To give some examples, one section of test had the examinee arrange blocks to fit a certain pattern, another was copying symbols, another was reading back a series of numbers, a third was explaining vocabulary words, another was asking every day questions like, "Who wrote Hamlet?," one was arranging a series of pictures to form a logical story, and another was identifying the missing piece in a picture. A few of the tests eventually became very difficult for us to even figure out. The blocks were by far the hardest. The section of the test with the blocks was the part of test that the patient became a bit flustered with and said he wanted to leave. Since we did not complete the whole test, and we haven't learned how to score it yet, hopefully when both me and the graduate student are back in January we can finish learning about it. I really enjoyed getting hands-on experience with psychological assessment - it was a nice change of pace.

Revision [1241]

Edited on 2006-12-18 14:19:25 by EmilyParobek
Additions:
__Last Updated: Dec. 18__
//running total hours: 111.5 out of 120//
====December 18th, 2006====
Deletions:
__Last Updated: Dec. 15__
//running total hours: 107 out of 120//

Revision [1238]

Edited on 2006-12-15 17:13:52 by EmilyParobek
Additions:
Because this week was finals week, I was able to not only go into BPC on a different day, but I was also able to come in early. On Fridays, different things happen than when I come in on Mondays or Wednesdays. In the morning, the ward has two meetings. The first today was the privilege meeting. For this, patients line up one by one outside the door to the classroom. The social worker, rehab counselor, teacher and psychologist sit together and invite one patient in at a time. As they come in, they are told what privilege level they have achieved, or went down from, and are informed of what they must improve on in order to get to the next privilege level. After accomplishing 4 levels, they are considered for discharge. Some patients need to work on attending groups more, or waking up on time, or even going to appearance checks. They also discuss if the patient broke a rule, such as smoking in the bathroom or threatening another person. In addition to these privileges at each level, patients receive money, ranging from $0 to $20. As you go up in privilege level, you earn more money, so that is another incentive to cooperating with the rules of the BRITE ward. It was interesting to see this because some patients come in and are either compliant with what is said or argue about certain things, and some patients don't even come in because they know that they have not achieved what they are supposed to. The next meeting was the community meeting. Everyone gathers in the day room and awards are given out to people who have either maintained their privilege level or achieved the next level. The rehab counselor talked about the weather for the day and had one of the patient's read from a sheet events that happened today in history. A few patients were sleeping or were disruptive while others paid attention and participated.
Mid morning, there was a slight crisis. There was a power outage in the Strozzi building (the main building where all the inpatients live). It was stated that the power would not return for another 13 hours (!). The staff were getting restless because they couldn't do very much of anything (no computers) and it there was very little light to see. Several patients were taking advantage of the darkness and were sleeping in chairs. Group was run anyway with light from the windows. The outage ended up lasting only like an hour and a half and we came to find that the whole thing was only a test. It was pretty ridiculous. I was just glad I wasn't in the elevator at that time.
I helped run a group program with the rehab counselor. We talked to the patients about the importance of maintaining a budget and learning how to save money in order to "pay the bills." Again, the idea behind these groups is to teach them life lessons they will need to know if/when they are released from BRITE. I had to read a story to them and then they answered some questions about it. We discussed tips for saving money and the difference between buying things we want and buying things we need. The patients seemed to understand the concept very well, but who knows if they will actually implement the advice.
Later we went to the New Beginnings building to the gym. I played basketball with one of the patients again. For a little while I was left alone with him while the rehab counselor went to the bowling alley with a few other patients. I decided to initiate socialization with the patient by making basketball a two person activity instead of us just shooting at our own baskets. We played the game P-I-G and then we did some passing and shooting exercises. He initiated conversation, and he even remembered my name without me telling him! He eventually got really tired and sweaty so then we left.
Deletions:
Because this week was finals week, I was able to not only go into BPC on a different day, but I was also able to come in early. On Fridays, different things happen than when I come in on Mondays or Wednesdays. In the morning, the ward has two meetings. The first today was the privilege meeting. For this, patients line up one by one outside the door to the classroom. The social worker, rehab counselor, teacher and psychologist sit together and invite one patient in at a time. As they come in, they are told what privilege level they have achieved, or went down from, and are informed of what they must improve on in order to get to the next privilege level. After accomplishing 4 levels, they are considered for discharge. Some patients need to work on attending groups more, or waking up on time, or even going to appearance checks. They also discuss if the patient broke a rule, such as smoking in the bathroom or threatening another person. In addition to these privileges at each level, patients receive money, ranging from $0 to $20. As you go up in privilege level, you earn more money, so that is another incentive to cooperating with the rules of the BRITE ward. The next meeting was the community meeting. Everyone gathers in the day room and awards are given out to people who have either maintained their privilege level or achieved the next level. The rehab counselor talked about the weather for the day and had one of the patient's read from a sheet events that happened today in history. A few patients were sleeping or were disruptive while others paid attention and participated.
Next was a group program

Revision [1236]

Edited on 2006-12-15 12:31:05 by EmilyParobek
Additions:
__Last Updated: Dec. 15__
//running total hours: 107 out of 120//
====December 15th, 2006====
Because this week was finals week, I was able to not only go into BPC on a different day, but I was also able to come in early. On Fridays, different things happen than when I come in on Mondays or Wednesdays. In the morning, the ward has two meetings. The first today was the privilege meeting. For this, patients line up one by one outside the door to the classroom. The social worker, rehab counselor, teacher and psychologist sit together and invite one patient in at a time. As they come in, they are told what privilege level they have achieved, or went down from, and are informed of what they must improve on in order to get to the next privilege level. After accomplishing 4 levels, they are considered for discharge. Some patients need to work on attending groups more, or waking up on time, or even going to appearance checks. They also discuss if the patient broke a rule, such as smoking in the bathroom or threatening another person. In addition to these privileges at each level, patients receive money, ranging from $0 to $20. As you go up in privilege level, you earn more money, so that is another incentive to cooperating with the rules of the BRITE ward. The next meeting was the community meeting. Everyone gathers in the day room and awards are given out to people who have either maintained their privilege level or achieved the next level. The rehab counselor talked about the weather for the day and had one of the patient's read from a sheet events that happened today in history. A few patients were sleeping or were disruptive while others paid attention and participated.
Next was a group program
//:6hrs//
Deletions:
__Last Updated: Dec. 6__
//running total hours: 101 out of 120//

Revision [1197]

Edited on 2006-12-06 19:08:19 by EmilyParobek
Additions:
__Last Updated: Dec. 6__
//running total hours: 101 out of 120//
I had group today and it went well. I was grateful to have some help from the graduate student that is doing her internship here too. The group started a little chaotic because the first person that came in we asked him what he would like to discuss and he kept going on about getting out of the hospital and if we knew if he could get a lawyer to take the hospital to court. But then more people came in and someone wanted to use the computer, so I briefly left the graduate student talking with the patients. I tried to encourage one patient to try a computer game, but with every game I mentioned she said no. She was not very enthusiastic about it and did not seem to know of the games. I tried to get her to try one out by herself, but she wasn't interested in doing that either. Finally she settled with just listening to music on the comuter. But then, some other patients came in wanting to listen to music too, but there are only three computers, and that is when things became chaotic. Eventually I got it fixed and returned to the people discussing a topic at the table. They were talking about ways in which they would want to be discharged, that kind of topic is a little too heavy to discuss, especially with me and the graduate student not knowing anything that extensive about the discharge procedure. So we moved the discussion to holiday memories and favorite things about christmas. I love hearing the patients talk about when they were younger. It is interesting to see people's personalities come through when we have these groups. One patient just is very loquacious. Another always gives the year when he talks about memories, like "that was in 1973," and his memories seem to be only related to "stupid things" that he'd done or embarrasing moments. The third patient we had has a tendency to make up words, kind of like a word salad, and talks nonsence. I thought for sure that he would be doing that in the group, but he was very good and coherent. So far, no one has been expressing delusional thoughts in the group. This is a very good thing.
====December 6, 2006====
The ward was full of Christmas spirit when I first walked in today. The hallways and day rooms were all decorated for the holidays, and there was a christmas tree in one room and a blown-up snowman in the other room. The rec. therapist was taking pictures of the patients next to these holiday decorations with a polaroid camera. One patient wanted me and the grad student to be in a general picture with him. It was funny that he requested a picture of us, and we were a little hesitant at first because he is kind of like a womanizer. But later in the day, he ended up giving me the polaroid picture to keep. I am making the worst face ever!
This week I chose to go with the rehab. counselor to music therapy at the Butler building on the BPC campus. Instead of sitting around and picking records to play, this week the patients were able to watch a U2 concert from a DVD of their 2005 live performance in Chicago. A few patients really go into the music and others liked being able to see a live show. One patient was even dancing around to the music.
During the group discussion I held today, I received help from the rehab. counselor. It was still difficult to manage the patients because there is one patient that always comes and talks too much. At first it was just me and this one patient who hasn't been a part of the group yet and I would ask her questions and she would just give brief answers. Eventually, she opened up and started talking more, but then when the rehab. counselor came in she started making up stories/being delusional. We just talked about random things and let one topic flow to another. It's a very relaxed atomosphere and like I've been saying, it's nice to interact with the patients in a different context. However, the patients still will not ask questions to one another or initiate topics. I wish I knew a way to get them to socially interact more.
The latest news on the BRITE ward was that they were going to pick a patient to be "kicked off." He or she would essentially trade spots
with another patient from a different ward. I'm not sure how often this is done, or how the procedure is done, but I couldn't believe that they had the power to do something like this. There were two female patients in the running to be traded, the two that give the staff a hard time the most. It was interesting to hear arguments for both patients, and staff were going around and asking each other which one they would get rid of - even I was asked to vote!
Deletions:
__Last Updated: Dec. 4__
//running total hours: 96 out of 120//
I had group today and it went well. I was grateful to have some help from the graduate student that is doing her internship here too. The group started a little chaotic because the first person that came in we asked him what he would like to discuss and he kept going on about getting out of the hospital and if we knew if he could get a lawyer to take the hospital to court. But then more people came in and someone wanted to use the computer, so I briefly left the graduate student talking with the patients. I tried to encourage one patient to try a computer game, but with every game I mentioned she said no. She was not very enthusiastic about it and did not seem to know of the games. I tried to get her to try one out by herself, but she wasn't interested in doing that either. Finally she settled with just listening to music on the comuter. But then, some other patients came in wanting to listen to music too, but there are only three computers, and that is when things became chaotic. Eventually I got it fixed and returned to the people discussing a topic at the table. They were talking about ways in which they would want to be discharged, that kind of topic is a little too heavy to discuss, especially with me and the graduate student not knowing anything that extensive about the discharge procedure. So we moved the discussion to holiday memories and favorite things about christmas. I love hearing the patients talk about when they were younger. It is interesting to see people's personalities come through when we have these groups. One patient just is very locquacious. Another always gives the year when he talks about memories, like "that was in 1973," and his memories seem to be only related to "stupid things" that he'd done or embarrasing moments. The third patient we had has a tendency to make up words, kind of like a word salad, and talks nonsence. I thought for sure that he would be doing that in the group, but he was very good and coherent. So far, no one has been expressing delusional thoughts in the group. This is a very good thing.

Revision [1196]

Edited on 2006-12-04 14:15:58 by EmilyParobek
Additions:
I had group today and it went well. I was grateful to have some help from the graduate student that is doing her internship here too. The group started a little chaotic because the first person that came in we asked him what he would like to discuss and he kept going on about getting out of the hospital and if we knew if he could get a lawyer to take the hospital to court. But then more people came in and someone wanted to use the computer, so I briefly left the graduate student talking with the patients. I tried to encourage one patient to try a computer game, but with every game I mentioned she said no. She was not very enthusiastic about it and did not seem to know of the games. I tried to get her to try one out by herself, but she wasn't interested in doing that either. Finally she settled with just listening to music on the comuter. But then, some other patients came in wanting to listen to music too, but there are only three computers, and that is when things became chaotic. Eventually I got it fixed and returned to the people discussing a topic at the table. They were talking about ways in which they would want to be discharged, that kind of topic is a little too heavy to discuss, especially with me and the graduate student not knowing anything that extensive about the discharge procedure. So we moved the discussion to holiday memories and favorite things about christmas. I love hearing the patients talk about when they were younger. It is interesting to see people's personalities come through when we have these groups. One patient just is very locquacious. Another always gives the year when he talks about memories, like "that was in 1973," and his memories seem to be only related to "stupid things" that he'd done or embarrasing moments. The third patient we had has a tendency to make up words, kind of like a word salad, and talks nonsence. I thought for sure that he would be doing that in the group, but he was very good and coherent. So far, no one has been expressing delusional thoughts in the group. This is a very good thing.
Deletions:
I had group today and it went well. I was grateful to have some help from the graduate student that is doing her internship here too. The group started a little chaotic because the first person that came in we asked him what he would like to discuss and he kept going on about getting out of the hospital and if we knew if he could get a lawyer to take the hospital to court. But then more people came in and someone wanted to use the computer, so I briefly left the graduate student talking with the patients. I tried to encourage one patient to try a computer game, but with every game I mentioned she said no. She was not very enthusiastic about it and did not seem to know of the games. I tried to get her to try one out by herself, but she wasn't interested in doing that either. Finally she settled with just listening to music on the comuter. But then, some other patients came in wanting to listen to music too, but there are only three computers, and that is when things became chaotic. Eventually I got it fixed and returned to the people discussing a topic at the table. They were talking about ways in which they would want to be discharged, that kind of topic is a little too heavy to discuss, especially with me and the graduate student not knowing anything that extensive about the discharge procedure. So we moved the discussion to holiday memories and favorite things about christmas. I love hearing the patients talk about when they were younger. It is interesting to see people's personalities come through when we have these groups. One patient just is very locquacious. Another always gives the year when he talks about memories, like "that was in 1973." The third patient we had has a tendency to make up words, kind of like a word salad, and talks nonsence. I thought for sure that he would be doing that in the group, but he was very good and coherent. So far, no one has been expressing delusional thoughts in the group. This is a very good thing.

Revision [1195]

Edited on 2006-12-04 14:01:50 by EmilyParobek
Additions:
__Last Updated: Dec. 4__
//running total hours: 96 out of 120//
====December 4, 2006====
Today was a pretty typical day. I played Scrabble again, and then later Uno with a higher functioning patient than the one I usually play Uno with. It was more enjoyable with this patient because it was a faster-paced game. I could definitely see the differences between patients with more intellectual ability and those who are not as functional.
I had group today and it went well. I was grateful to have some help from the graduate student that is doing her internship here too. The group started a little chaotic because the first person that came in we asked him what he would like to discuss and he kept going on about getting out of the hospital and if we knew if he could get a lawyer to take the hospital to court. But then more people came in and someone wanted to use the computer, so I briefly left the graduate student talking with the patients. I tried to encourage one patient to try a computer game, but with every game I mentioned she said no. She was not very enthusiastic about it and did not seem to know of the games. I tried to get her to try one out by herself, but she wasn't interested in doing that either. Finally she settled with just listening to music on the comuter. But then, some other patients came in wanting to listen to music too, but there are only three computers, and that is when things became chaotic. Eventually I got it fixed and returned to the people discussing a topic at the table. They were talking about ways in which they would want to be discharged, that kind of topic is a little too heavy to discuss, especially with me and the graduate student not knowing anything that extensive about the discharge procedure. So we moved the discussion to holiday memories and favorite things about christmas. I love hearing the patients talk about when they were younger. It is interesting to see people's personalities come through when we have these groups. One patient just is very locquacious. Another always gives the year when he talks about memories, like "that was in 1973." The third patient we had has a tendency to make up words, kind of like a word salad, and talks nonsence. I thought for sure that he would be doing that in the group, but he was very good and coherent. So far, no one has been expressing delusional thoughts in the group. This is a very good thing.
Deletions:
__Last Updated: Nov. 29__
//running total hours: 91 out of 120//

Revision [1184]

Edited on 2006-11-29 14:11:02 by EmilyParobek
Additions:
__Last Updated: Nov. 29__
//running total hours: 91 out of 120//
====November 29, 2006====
It was another mess on the ward today. A few patients were sick with a stomach flu/virus thing, and everyone else seemed really agitated. At program time, I tried playing Scrabble with two patients and they nearly ate my head. One told me I was the spawn of the devil and that I came from Hell and kept cursing at everyone. She was asked to leave the program. Then this other patient became really agitated and kept screaming every time another patient said anything. We played Scrabble for a few minutes but eventually she was asked to leave program too. So then I moved on and played Uno with another patient. I was observing her earlier when she sat in the classroom and did some reading and writing in a workbook and watching her as we played. She is a very slow individual and seems to have delayed reactions to everything. I was very patient with her while we played cards and realized that I only had to say things once, then wait for her to process it. It saved the frustration of having to repeat everything. She was the only patient today that was actually nice to me. Later on during informal time, this other patient accused me of staring at her and became very agitated everytime I walked by, screaming stuff at me to leave her alone - I wasn't doing anything. I had had enough of the patients and decided that I wasn't going to run that group today because everyone was being nasty to me.
There was a new student at the ward today. She is a graduate student at UB and somehow got put on the BRITE ward. She is mostly interested in one-on-one type of therapy, but there is none of that here, only group therapy. I told her a few things and we looked over some patient charts. A few of the patients were very receptive to a new person coming on the ward. I guess they're already tired of me. The student was able to have a conversation with one patient who never talks to anyone or participates in any group, and everyone was impressed. Dr. Messer was still away at an out of town conference, and it seems that when he is gone things get chaotic.
I also was able to sit in on Women's Group. Today, the group was discussing ways in which to eat healthy when eating out. The rec. therapist quizzed the ladies about different things in fast food, such has "which has more calories, a mcdonald's cheeseburger or a starbucks coffee" and a lot of the ladies were very surprised at the answers. She advised them on what they should choose to eat, such as not picking anything that says "large" or "supersize" and using low fat milk and skipping sugar when drinking coffee. She also sternly reminded them that BPC is going smoke-free starting January 2nd, and that it is not a joke. The hospital will no longer provide patients with cigarettes or take them on cigarette breaks. She told them they should really be thinking about a plan to quit smoking, or to be discharged. I will be curious to see what is going to happen come January 2nd...
Deletions:
__Last Updated: Nov. 27__
//running total hours: 85.5 out of 120//

Revision [1175]

Edited on 2006-11-27 18:17:43 by EmilyParobek
Additions:
__Last Updated: Nov. 27__
//running total hours: 85.5 out of 120//
Deletions:
__Last Updated:Nov. 20__
//running total hours: 80.5 out of 120//

Revision [1174]

Edited on 2006-11-27 18:17:19 by EmilyParobek
Additions:
====November 27, 2006====
I don't even know what to write about for today. It was certainly an "off" day at BRITE. Dr. Messer wasn't there because he was at a conference and the staff seemed really stressed out because a lot of patients were acting up and giving them a hard time. Patients also weren't motivated at all to attend any program. I didn't get anyone in my discussion group. I spent a lot of time at the nurse's station just observing everyone and trying to help out staff as much as I could because the ward was also short staffed today as well (to add to all the stresses). I went with the rehab. counselor and three patients to play basketball at the gym. I was able to see a lot of the dynamics of the hospital and in working on this particular ward. I see a lot of inconsistencies with the way staff are executing the BRITE program procedures (or are not). It seems like it would be very frustrating to try to fix all these problems though. Needless to say, it was a difficult day to sit through...

Revision [1170]

Edited on 2006-11-21 14:06:04 by EmilyParobek
Additions:
In the afternoon I played Scrabble with a couple patients. The rec. therapist was helping one of the patients and she encouraged everyone to count up their points on their own, and to use the word they chose in a sentence. I thought this was a very excellent way to positively engage the patients in the game and to hone in on some every day skills with math and language. It's actually something similar to what a parent might do with their child to help build their math and language skills. The game we played was fun and we all came up with good words.
Today was the first day that I held my own group. It was a special discussion group held during informal interaction time when the patients are supposed to be keeping themselves occupied for 45 minutes. I thought no one would be interested, but I had 5 people in my group! It didn't go as smoothly as I wanted it to - I had envisioned me giving them a topic, having them think about the topic and what they are going to say, and then having them discuss the topic and asking each other questions about them. It didn't really work that way, but hopefully I can build up to that. I introduced a topic - I started with thanksgiving - and asked everyone to contribute something based on the questions I asked, such as what is thanksgiving, what is your favorite thanksgiving memory, what is your favorite food at thanksgiving. I tried to get them to ask each other questions, but I was unsuccessful. They had no problem talking to me, and they had no problem contributing to the group, and they had no problem listening to the person that was talking, but they just would not ask questions to each other. From the discussion on thanksgiving, I moved the discussion on to having them express their opinions on the Smoke Free BPC starting January 2nd and what they are doing to prepare for it, we also talked about religion and if god is an important part of their life, and then we talked about dreams and their strangeness. For the first time with this group, I guess I could say that it was definitely a trial period. I realized that I need to somehow make it more structured. And I don't think I could handle more than five patients at a time. They were very responsive and seemed to have a good time (as opposed to pretending they're reading a book for 45 minutes). I got some genuine answers and opinons from people, and no one acted "crazy" - they were just regular people in this group. It was almost like seeing a different side of them, like for once their mental illnesses weren't consuming their lives.
Deletions:
In the afternoon I played Scrabble with a couple patients. The rec. therapist was helping one of the patients and she encouraged everyone to count up their points on their own, and to use the word they chose in a sentence. I thought this was a very excellent way to positively engage the patients in the game and to hone in on some every day skills with math and language. It's actually something similar to what parent might do with their child to help build their math and language skills. The game we played was fun and we all came up with good words.
Today was the first day that I held my own group. It was a special discussion group held during informal interaction time when the patients are supposed to be keeping occupied by themselves for 45 minutes. I thought no one would be interested, but I had 5 people in my group! It didn't go as smoothly as I wanted it to - I had envisioned me giving them a topic, having them think about the topic and what they are going to say, and then having them discuss the topic and asking each other questions about them. It didn't really work that way, but hopefully I can build up to that. I introduced a topic - I started with thanksgiving - and asked everyone to contribute something based on the questions I asked, such as what is thanksgiving, what is your favorite thanksgiving memory, what is your favorite food. I tried to get them to ask each other questions, but I was unsucessful. They had no problem talking to me, and they had no problem contributing to the group, and they had no problem listening to the person that was talking, but they just would not ask questions themselves. From the discussion on thanksgiving, I moved thbe discussion on to having them express their opinions on the Smoke Free BPC starting January 2nd and what they are doing to prepare for it, we also talked about religion and if god is an important part of their life, and then we talked about dreams and their strangeness. I guess I could say that it was a trial period for this discussion group. I need to somehow make it more structured. And I don't think I could handle more than five patients at a time. They were very responsive and seemed to have a good time (as opposed to pretending they're reading a book for 45 minutes). I got some genuine answers and opinons from people, and no one acted "crazy" - they were just regular people in this group. It was almost like seeing a different side of them, like for once their mental illnesses weren't consuming their lives.

Revision [1169]

Edited on 2006-11-21 14:01:24 by EmilyParobek
Additions:
In the afternoon I played Scrabble with a couple patients. The rec. therapist was helping one of the patients and she encouraged everyone to count up their points on their own, and to use the word they chose in a sentence. I thought this was a very excellent way to positively engage the patients in the game and to hone in on some every day skills with math and language. It's actually something similar to what parent might do with their child to help build their math and language skills. The game we played was fun and we all came up with good words.
Today was the first day that I held my own group. It was a special discussion group held during informal interaction time when the patients are supposed to be keeping occupied by themselves for 45 minutes. I thought no one would be interested, but I had 5 people in my group! It didn't go as smoothly as I wanted it to - I had envisioned me giving them a topic, having them think about the topic and what they are going to say, and then having them discuss the topic and asking each other questions about them. It didn't really work that way, but hopefully I can build up to that. I introduced a topic - I started with thanksgiving - and asked everyone to contribute something based on the questions I asked, such as what is thanksgiving, what is your favorite thanksgiving memory, what is your favorite food. I tried to get them to ask each other questions, but I was unsucessful. They had no problem talking to me, and they had no problem contributing to the group, and they had no problem listening to the person that was talking, but they just would not ask questions themselves. From the discussion on thanksgiving, I moved thbe discussion on to having them express their opinions on the Smoke Free BPC starting January 2nd and what they are doing to prepare for it, we also talked about religion and if god is an important part of their life, and then we talked about dreams and their strangeness. I guess I could say that it was a trial period for this discussion group. I need to somehow make it more structured. And I don't think I could handle more than five patients at a time. They were very responsive and seemed to have a good time (as opposed to pretending they're reading a book for 45 minutes). I got some genuine answers and opinons from people, and no one acted "crazy" - they were just regular people in this group. It was almost like seeing a different side of them, like for once their mental illnesses weren't consuming their lives.
//:5.5hrs//
Deletions:
In the afternoon I played Scrabble with a couple patients. The rec. therapist was helping one of the patients and she encouraged everyone to count up their points on their own, and to use the word they chose in a sentence. I thought this was a very excellent way to engage the patients in the game and to hone in on some every day skills with math and language. It's actually something similar to what parent might do with their child to help build their math and language skills. The game we played was fun and we all came up with good words.
Today was the first day that I held my own group. It was a special discussion group held during informal interaction time when the patients are supposed to be keeping occupied by themselves for 45 minutes. I thought no one would be interested, but I had 5 people in my group! It didn't go as smoothly as I wanted it to - I had envisioned me giving them a topic, having them think about the topic and what they are going to say, and then having them discuss the topic and asking each other questions about them. It didn't really work that way, but hopefully I can build up to that. I introduced a topic - I started with thanksgiving - and

Revision [1165]

Edited on 2006-11-21 11:20:10 by EmilyParobek
Additions:
__Last Updated:Nov. 20__
//running total hours: 80.5 out of 120//
Lately I have been having lengthy conversations with the rec. therapist and rehab. counselor about dealing with the patients. I talk to them a lot more for the scoop on all the patients since they interact more with the patients than the psychologist, psychiatrist and social worker do. I really enjoy hearing their insight into things, and because of their knowledge and experience, I learn a lot from them. Today we discussed how to deal with patients when they have delusional thinking, such as saying someone saying "oh I'm the queen of France, you can't treat me like that" or some other type of ridiculously false statement. One of things that is hard to deal with is the fact that these patients have chronic mental illnesses and have a history of being institutionalized, and it is hard to change them. Medication helps a lot of the "voices" and creates clearer thinking for them, but medication doesn't work for every patient. If the medication does work and helps them focus their thinking, then the activities in the various programs (that I talk about in my entries) do help. So for these types of patients, medication is definitely important for them to function somewhat normally.
====November 20, 2006====
I started out today sitting in on a group run by the rec. therapist with the lower functioning patients. She was talking to them about discharge. She asked if they were to be discharged next week, where would they go and what would they do. She said it is important for them to have a plan for discharge because even though they might not get off the ward next week or even in 6 months, having a plan and a goal is the first step. A lot of patients responded that they would live with family, or that they would be in supervised living . A few said they would find jobs when they were discharged. Someone said that he did not want to leave the ward at all. It was very interesting to hear them have a goal and a hope for getting out of the BRITE ward.
In the afternoon I played Scrabble with a couple patients. The rec. therapist was helping one of the patients and she encouraged everyone to count up their points on their own, and to use the word they chose in a sentence. I thought this was a very excellent way to engage the patients in the game and to hone in on some every day skills with math and language. It's actually something similar to what parent might do with their child to help build their math and language skills. The game we played was fun and we all came up with good words.
Today was the first day that I held my own group. It was a special discussion group held during informal interaction time when the patients are supposed to be keeping occupied by themselves for 45 minutes. I thought no one would be interested, but I had 5 people in my group! It didn't go as smoothly as I wanted it to - I had envisioned me giving them a topic, having them think about the topic and what they are going to say, and then having them discuss the topic and asking each other questions about them. It didn't really work that way, but hopefully I can build up to that. I introduced a topic - I started with thanksgiving - and
Deletions:
__Last Updated:Nov. 15__
//running total hours: 75 out of 120//
Lately I have been having lengthy conversations with the rec. therapist and rehab. counselor about dealing with the patients. I talk to them a lot more for the scoop on all the patients since they interact more with the patients than the psychologist, psychiatrist and social worker do. I really enjoy hearing their insight into things, and because of their knowledge and experience, I learn a lot from them. Today we discussed how to deal with patients when they have delusional thinking, such as saying someone saying "oh I'm the queen of France, you can't treat me like that" or some other type of ridiculously false statement. One of things that is hard to deal with is the fact that these patients have chronic mental illnesses and have a history of being institutionalized, and it is hard to change them. Medication helps a lot of the "voices" and creates clearer thinking for them, but medication doesn't work for every patient. If the medication does work and helps them focus their thinking, then the activites in the various programs (that I talk about in my entries) do help. So for these types of patients, medication is definitely important for them to function somewhat normally.

Revision [1154]

Edited on 2006-11-15 20:33:01 by EmilyParobek
Additions:
Lately I have been having lengthy conversations with the rec. therapist and rehab. counselor about dealing with the patients. I talk to them a lot more for the scoop on all the patients since they interact more with the patients than the psychologist, psychiatrist and social worker do. I really enjoy hearing their insight into things, and because of their knowledge and experience, I learn a lot from them. Today we discussed how to deal with patients when they have delusional thinking, such as saying someone saying "oh I'm the queen of France, you can't treat me like that" or some other type of ridiculously false statement. One of things that is hard to deal with is the fact that these patients have chronic mental illnesses and have a history of being institutionalized, and it is hard to change them. Medication helps a lot of the "voices" and creates clearer thinking for them, but medication doesn't work for every patient. If the medication does work and helps them focus their thinking, then the activites in the various programs (that I talk about in my entries) do help. So for these types of patients, medication is definitely important for them to function somewhat normally.
Deletions:
Lately I have been having lengthy talks with the rec. therapist and rehab. counselor about dealing with the patients. I really enjoy hearing their insight into things, and because of their knowledge and experience, I learn a lot from them. Today we discussed how to deal with patients when they have delusional thinking, such as saying someone saying "oh I'm the queen of France, you can't treat me like that" or some other type of ridiculously false statement. I talk to them a lot more for the scoop on all the patients since they interact more with the patients than the psychologist, psychiatrist and social worker do.

Revision [1153]

Edited on 2006-11-15 19:41:43 by EmilyParobek
Additions:
I went with the rehab. counselor to music therapy again because she had asked me to come along with her this week to help her with the patients she was taking. These two individuals have never gone to the music group before and one of them had previously run away, so she wanted me to help out just in case something happened. Nothing did happen - one patient was good, but didn't participate and they other participated but kept having a negative, nasty attitude toward his life with being in the hospital for so long. I can't even begin to imagine how someone would counsel him to change his attitude, he seems so set in his ways. I wish I could sit in on a counseling or therapy session, but I have no idea when they even run those things.
I had forgotten to mention in my earlier entries that BPC is going "smoke-free" in January, meaning that there is to be no smoking inside or outside on BPC grounds. People will have to go to the sidewalk on Elmwood to smoke. Patients are NOT happy about this because they live to have their next smoke. Though the hospital is pushing and hoping that people start quitting smoking, I don't forsee a lot of them doing that - they all clearly have no motivation to change. And I'm not just talking about the patients on BRITE, all the patients in the hospital have the same attitude and highly enjoy their cigarettes.
Deletions:
I went with the rehab. counselor to music therapy again because she had asked me to come along with her this week to help her with the patients she was taking. These two individuals have never gone to the music group before and one of them had previously run away, so she wanted me to help out just in case something happened. Nothing did happen, but one patient was good, but didn't participate and they other participated but kept having a negative, nasty attitude toward his life with being in the hospital for so long. I can't even begin to imagine how someone would counsel him to change his attitude
I had forgotten to mention in my earlier entries that BPC is going "smoke-free" meaning that there is no smoking inside or outside on BPC grounds. People will have to go to the sidewalk on Elmwood to smoke. Patients are NOT happy about this because they live to have their next smoke. Though the hospital is pushing and hoping that people start quitting smoking, I don't forsee a lot of them doing that - they all clearly have no motivation to change. And I' m not just talking about the patients on BRITE, all the patients in the hospital have the same attitude and highly enjoy their cigarettes.

Revision [1152]

The oldest known version of this page was created on 2006-11-15 19:38:37 by EmilyParobek
Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional :: Valid CSS :: Powered by WikkaWiki