Okay, so it's not the top of the range...but it was freee!!
why do I get it?! For being a total nerd and being one of the first people to reply to the email (this was back in my major major procrastination days...which I am now trying to erradicate from my daily routine)(with moderate success...)
It is super cool cos I also get $120 worth of free medical software on it so I can search for information on drugs, illnesses, symptoms, blood tests, scans etc etc.
I actually get it cos I'm taking part in a study on whether it would be a good idea to invest in one of these things for all medical students; how much would we use them, how useful would they be...etc. So I do actually have to give it back in about 6 months or so and they then download my data to monitor how much I've used it...waaa!
in other news...my new ward is proving very very.....eventful!
Like I mentioned, I spent the last 3 weeks doing out-patients, which was with people with mental disorders but who are okay enough to live at home, have a job and just be monitored every couple of months by the doctor.
It was interesting but most of the people weren't ill right now...well, some had things like obsessive compulsive disoder, anxiety disorders, post traumatic stress disorder, mild/moderate depression, many personality disorders.....but the majority were people who'd *had* schizophrenia and were still being treated, or who'd *had* suicide attempts, or who'd *had* bipolar disorder etc.
And although many psychiatrists would argue that you can never really be *cured* of a psychiatric disorder, the patients weren't so disabled by their symptoms that they were unable to live a normal life.
[On an unrelated note, it totally amazed me how sinfully biased society is!
Psychiatrists are willing to label many social behaviours as abnormal, many thought processes & thought content as abnormal, and many of the choices patients make as being self-destructive and propagating their maladaptive life situations......with the HUGE HUGE exception of sexual behaviours. Seriously, if it comes to acts, thoughts or behaviours of a sexual nature then it seems EVERYTHING GOES. Nothing is wrong! None of the sexual choices were seen as being implicated in any way in the patient's problems. No sexual act, with anyone, at any time, in any way was seen as being problematic, distorted or deviant! When it comes to sex it just seems like there is a spectrum of "normality" and anything on that spectrum is absolutely fiiiiine.
Morally abhorrant sexual acts were occasionally taken fleetingly into account by the psychiatrist but then just forgotten and not considered as having any role to play in the precipitation or maintenance of the illness.
(clearly, I'm not suggesting that things like schizophrenia are maintained by sexual deviant behaviours, but there certainly were a large cohort of patients I saw whose lives, I am certain, would be completely different if they lived a bit of JP2's Theology of the Body!)
anyway. It was very very sad. I thought I'd left all the horrible sexual sinfulness when I finished with the contraception & abortion in Women's Health a few months ago. It's not just sad because this is how patient's LIVE, but also because the medical profession's attitude to it is that it is normal and, in some instances, should be encourgaed.
I went to a lecture on 'sexual pschiatry' a few weeks ago. Some of the stuff the doctor was recommending we should teach patient's to "help" them with their sexual problems was SO horribly deviant and just totally disgusting I honestly felt like walking out. I couldn't believe that this was MEDICAL advice from a doctor. It was repulsive.]
So anyway, what was I saying?
Oh yeh, I was doing out-patient psychiatry, but am now doing in-patient psychiatry on an acute ward, which means the patients are very psychiatrically ill and pose a threat to themselves or others.
Lots of suicide attempts (people drinking antifreeze, taking drug overdoses, running away to the nearby railway tracks), lots of really bad self-harm, lots of active schizophrenia, and manic symptoms.
On my first day they gave me an alrarm in case I get attacked!!
(I accidently dropped it this morning. SOO EMBARASSING cos it went off and was absolutely deafening! A number of nursing staff came running to the 'rescue' only to discover it was just a false alarm! I then couldn't find where I'd dropped the stupid thing either so it rang for ages! (probabaly only about 20 seconds in reality though!)
It made such a horrendously load noise!
anyway, I better go and write up one of the patients I interviewed today, because I have to present it to a doctor tomorrow.
God Bless,
-x-
2 comments:
I loved this blog because it reminded me of my first 2 sems as a psych. nursing student. I totally agree with you about the sexual nature in this field. the psychiatric institute where I was doing my clinical first sem. had a designated place somewhere in the facility for the clients to engage in sexual acts. since they know sexual engagements is an issue with most of the clients (the ones that still have libido anyways) they figured they too can control it (like how they control their cigarettes). in order to access this 'room' all the client needs to do is sign their name up in a sheet of paper, sort-of first come first served basis. I thought this was unbelievable because in a way, by providing this room it's almost like they are promoting sexual acts(or maybe it's just me?). This was their way of 'addressing' the issue. nevermind the fact, like you said, that these sexual choices can cause futher harm to the clients. This would make a great professional issues paper topic.
on a slight less depressing topic, that whole alarm thing happened not once, not twice, but three times to one of my colleague. all three times it was pressed by her client who she was interviewing. but I think it's better than pressing the 'code blue' button by accident at a hospital though (yes, i was really embarrased)
God Bless
i have a palm m500 that i got off of e-bay. there is this killer game called bubbles or something to that effect. also datebk+ is an awesome extension to the calendar program. so much more features.
i would think a pda would be great for the medical profession if it had wireless. you could get and send medical records like they do with reports on star trek. although there are major privacy and confidentiality concerns with something like that.
another thing, i think the palm would be much more effective if it had a keyboard. sometimes the grafiti or the screen keyboard can be so cumbersome.
i can't wait until my cell phone contract runs out so i can get a treo or something....
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