This is what clinicals are for

I have started back with my teaching duties and though it can be exhausting, it is also rewarding. My students this week were six women of ages twenty to fifty. It is rare to have a student without some anxiety as they start their first day in a psychiatric hospital. (Anxiety in this situation is in fact a good thing as long as it doesn't get the upper hand. It can keep us watchful and on our toes.) The cute twenty year old student visibly and admittedly had the most, so I assigned her to a patient I knew would be cooperative and talkative. After a good chat with him the first day she said, "I feel like I have run a marathon." She was pumped. All the students went on to interact with other patients and attend activities with them. On the start of second day she appeared as if her fears were behind her, and by the end she had some positive words to say. Though I can't quote verbatim, the essence was that she had learned to look at patients in a whole new way. Not just as a body part that needed fixing, but as a whole human being with a life story and feelings. That is what I hope students will learn in this rotation, especially the young ones. I praised her for her insight and developing maturity.