After completing my mental health simulation, I was surprised to learn that I knew more therapeutic ways of communication than I anticipated. It was definitely difficult to get into the flow of the simulation at first, especially since there were three other people in the room besides myself. The biggest hurdle was figuring out how to effectively communicate with one another to work as a team to be able to do our assessments fairly and thoroughly. I was definitely most challenged when it came to the patient who had BPD and was in a manic state. I had a difficult time interrupting and setting boundaries even though I was assured that I did just fine. I know that is still something I can improve on moving forward and practice makes perfect. The mental health nursing process has a different approach when communicating or interacting with different types of patients who have differing needs. It honestly threw me for a loop going from a patient who was dealing with substance abuse and being in denial of it to a person who is manic and speaks a million miles an hour. Mental health nursing isn’t based on lab values or set parameters like other branches of nursing but is constantly changing as the patient evolves. I do believe that I still need more experience when it comes to dealing with mental health problems in the clinical setting, however, I believe this is achievable with time and practice. I feel very fortunate to have been able to learn through a controlled environment where I can make mistakes and learn from them without serious repercussions on others.
