First Day and a Preferred Unit

What a day!! Today marked the beginning of my first day with Cedar Springs and it was incredible!!! I shadowed in the Child/Adolescent Acute Unit and loved it. There were a total of 16 patients on the unit and by the end of the shift, I had already established rapport with each and every one of them and can even recite their names from memory and a little about each one. The shift started off slowly but picked up rapidly. Beginning of shift report followed by environmental checks and right into patient check in. Patients self rated their emotions and gave indications of their mood, anger, and likelihood of misconduct. Believe it or not, they were very accurate as the evening progressed. Psych-education on coping strategies was presented by the senior MHT and I got a glimpse of what I’d eventually be doing. The patients were exceptionally responsive to me and I have a feeling it’s because I was the only male staff member on duty. I noticed the patients were much more compliant if I asked patients to stand down versus my female counterparts. Dinner and free time followed before visitation hours. No major problem except for one patient was set into a behavior and another one was observed trying to manipulate their parent/guardian. I intervened and prevented an uninformed parent from consenting to additional medication treatment. Patients were sent to bed following visitation hours and I got an inside scoop from some of the other staff members on what to really expect. Although I’ve already been assigned to the Adult Acute Unit, I think I’ll put in a request to stay on the night shift on the Child Acute Unit. There’s something about the kids that I really enjoy.