My Psychiatric Nursing Exposure; Encounters

October 21, 2007
We arrived in Davao City at around 3:30 PM. Upon arrival at the dormitory, we were served with a snack of which included Pansit Bihon, a slice of cassava cake, lumpiang ubod and a moist, frosted chocolate cake paired with an 8oz bottle of Sparkle. After the merienda, we were given time to rest and also for us to buy some of the things needed in the said exposure. Our curfew was until 7PM.

October 22, 2007
The following day… We were required to wear our pink t-shirts and blue jeans. It was the day we were supposed to have our drug test at Davao Medical Center so we went there ahead of time. Unfortunately, the students of Xavier University came first and were prioritized to undergo the drug testing. Their session was consuming a lot of our time so our three clinical instructors decided to have our drug testing rescheduled on Thursday and gave us time to stroll around the city up to 10:30 AM as well. By 10:30, we returned to the dormitory for a follow-up meeting and for us to change to our all-white duty uniform. At 12:30, we went back to DMC to have our orientation. The students of Xavier University also attended the orientation. By 3:30, the orientation ended.

October 23, 2007
At 8AM we were at the mental hospital. While waiting for one of the staff of the hospital to give us a roll call, we were given a lecture about occupational therapy by a registered occupational therapist working at the said institution. It lasted for about 30 minutes and we had it confirmed that the tour was canceled. So instead of wasting our time doing nothing, the group decided to have a duty. Because the AM shift group was not prepared of the activities to be done that moment, it was agreed by everyone that the PM shift takes over the AM shift’s time of duty. Also, because the night before, the PM shift prepared for the next day thinking that they will have their duty in the afternoon after the tour leaving the responsibility of preparing the rest of the decorations, merienda, etc. to the AM shift. The AM shift went back to the dormitory to get some of the stuffs needed. The PM shift, on the other hand, was left in the hospital to prepare the place for the activity. The AM shift returned ahead of time and was able to assist the PM shift in the patients’ ADL. After returning our patients to their wards, we gathered at the session hall to have a brief meeting. The meeting talked about ******** and this was agreed on by everybody.

October 24, 2007
The agreed ***** was followed. The AM and PM shift with the Clinical Instructors went*****. ********. From the withdrawal of patients to returning them, the assigned ***** students per patient worked **** and still managed to bring complete paraphernalia, individually. In addition, for the the CIs to assure that each of the students brought complete paraphernalia, the students underwent thorough checking initiated by the CIs themselves. After our duty, we ent straight to the dormitory and had our rest. At 7:00 PM, we had our meeting.

October 25, 2007
At 7:30 AM, we arrived at the DMC for drug testing. Before the test, one of the staff of the Drug Testing department gave a brief remark. She tackled about the correct ways of extracting specimen for Drug Test. It didn’t take long. During the test, only the students who were about to urinate were the ones prioritized. The drug test for the whole section took about 2 1/2 hours. After the drug test, we headed straight to the dormitory. We were given until afternoon to go out and have fun. At 7:00 PM, we had our meeting.

October 26, 2007
On the last day of the week, the group decided to conduct a film viewing activity instead of bibliotherapy. Since we cannot find a television set for the said activity, the group rented a videoke machine. Aside from film viewing, the group let the patients sing. It was sort of relief for the patient after finding the difficult time understanding what the story was all about because the DVD copy was a pirated version and it appeared blurred on the screen. After our duty, we went back to the dormitory. Some of us went home to vote for the upcoming barangay elections on the 29th while others chose to just stay in the dormitory the whole weekend.

October 27, 2007
Mindanao Bloggers Summit. Read: Fun, Free and Full of Possibilities

October 30, 2007
Due to some conflicts, the agreed ******** The AM shift to their usual duty as well as the PM shift. Each group had 25 students and it was also *******. At 7:00 PM, stil, the usual meeting and the preparation for the following day. At 10:00 PM, the meeting ended and the “stay-out” students went to their respective addesses.

October 31, 2007
This was the last duty of the week cause the holidays was about to start. The usual duty took place. Nothing different or no momentous event happened. After the duty, some of us went home to Kidapawan City and were instructed to come back on Sunday (November 4, 2007)

November 4, 2007
Irene, Catherine, Samsia, Genevive, PJ, Alexis, Ralph and I went to crocodile park at River Front Drive, Corporate City, Diversion Highway, Matina Davao City. We arrived at 4 in the afternoon. It was a beautiful afternoon. It was a nice reward for nursing students who had a dead tired week of working the requirements and of course, duty. It was really fun. Click My Wild Life Encounter at Crocodile Park for more.

November 5, 2007
Some of the students had their material pre-cut and some brought their materials ready to be pasted. After the duty, we headed straight to the dormitory. The usual meeting took place at 7:00 PM and ended at 10:00 PM. In the meeting, the group agreed that the food to be served will include rice paired with sotanghon. It was a hearty meal quoted by some of the students who suggested it.

November 6, 2007
The disperas of our culmination day because we were only allowed to have a 3-day duty that week because the remaining days were announced as non- working holidays. This time, the 3rd batch together with the clinical instructors decided to fuse again the 2 groups and had our duty in the morning. After the duty, all of us prepared for the culmination. Some went out to buy gifts for their patients and some helped in making the props. Some of us were assigned to disseminate the invitations to our respective guests. We had our meeting at 7:00PM with regards to what food to be served in the culmination and also did some embellishments on the decorations.

November 7, 2007
The culmination day. There were 2 groups divided assigned in 2 specific functions. The first group for the decorations of the venue and the other group for the food. The Decorations Group went to the hospital earlier to prepare the place. They went to DMH at around 6 AM while the Food Group arrived just a few minutes later. It was about to rain so the group transferred to the session hall inside of the hospital. We hurriedly decorated the place. At around 7AM, we went to our patients’ wards and had their ADLs. 3o minutes fater, we brought them to the session hall. At around 8AM, the guests were starting to arrive. By 8:30, the program started. Ms. Aquino, the Psychiatric Nursing Supervisor of DMH gave her Opening Remarks and her words of appreciation. After that, the students together with their patients were requested to come to the stage and give their message. It was a very emotional moment for everybody. After an hour or so, it was time for the parlor games. The weather turned out to be fair, so we decided to go out and spent the parlor games. Aside from the parlor games, we treated our patients with ice cream donated by our classmate as a thanksgiving for her father’s victory in the barangay elections. At 11:30, we returned our patients to ntheir respective wards and had some cleaning. The christmas tree which was bought from our funds was donated to the hospital, it was decided not by the instructors but the student only. At around 12 noon, we went back to dormitory. Some of us rested that afternoon and some went out to stroll and bought stuffs since it was our free time. We were given until 7:00PM to go back to the dormitory. We had a meeting with regards to the outing the follwing day which was supposedly scheduled after the case presentation..

November 8, 2007
At 1:00PM, the AM shift was the first to present the case presentation. The presentation lasted for almost 2 hours. The Clinical Instructors thought that there will be an outing because the foods were ready and packed but as a decision of the majority, it was not realized. Also, due to financial constraints, we had a hard time decidind whether to go to the outing or not. So it was agreed that the proposed outing will instead be spent in the dormitory.

November 9, 2007
The AM shift only managed to present the day before, so it was the PM shift’s turn. After the case presentation, Ma’am D and Ma’am L gave their words of encouragements. They also gave their permission that for those who wanted to go home may start packing their things because by 5PM they will depart. Some of my classmates went home with the two clinical instructors namely Ma’am D and Ma’am N as their guardians. The remaining students were watched- over by Ma’am L and were allowed to go anywhere with the agreement that they will be back on or before 8PM. There were little instructions given with regards to the time of departure the following day.

November 10, 2007
The rest of the students together with Ma’am L went home. They left the dormitory at around 5PM and headed straight to the orientation held at the school gym upon arrival.

********Private Statements