Men in the nursing team (1973)

um we're nurses from the local hospital we're doing a project on anemia you wonder what anemia means to you well lack of eyes like lack of blood sort of um right thank you very much thank you good morning we're doing a project about anemia um i was wondering what it meant to you well i think uh uh shortly your blood actually you haven't had it at all it means too many white blood core never had thank you very much when we were given this project uh we decided we'd find out from the general public what they knew about anemia but as you can see from some of the replies we've had they're very confused about it but we as nurses must be sure that the patient understands yes to ensure their patients do understand and to be able to reassure them nurses must themselves be fully informed their studies include anatomy physiology psychology signs and symptoms of disease mental and physical can any of you think of any signs and symptoms of anemia well she'd be feeling tired all the time wouldn't she since she'd noticed this particularly when she was doing her housework she'd find it more difficult to cope there's the effects now what about the causes you remember from dr white's lecture that various investigations have to be carried out do you remember patience kindness and understanding are the essential qualities needed for all nurses and particularly for nursing the mentally handicapped julie hello julie now one of the basic needs of the mentally handicapped child is the need for love and security which is actually a basic need for all children and if we are not fulfilling this need for love and security then we're failing in our duty as nurses a mentally handicapped child does not develop as quickly as other children and never attains the full mental capacity of a normal adult mentally handicapped children have difficulty in understanding and in communicating but they respond to affection as other children do in most cases the causes of mental handicap are not known it can result from conditions before or at birth which affect the functioning of the brain it cannot be cured in the same sense as illness but the development of mentally handicapped children can be improved considerably by nursing skills training and special education occasionally physical handicaps occur together with mental handicap and such people must be helped in learning how to move about to walk normal reflexes must be developed even such basic ones as learning how to fall over without hurting oneself education for the mentally handicapped is not only a question of normal school activity reading writing arithmetic but more of developing the person's potential to live as full of life as possible when children have very little power of concentration working with them can be very tiring and great patience is needed by teachers and nurses but this makes a breakthrough or any progress all the more rewarding mental handicap is sometimes wrongly confused with mental illness anyone can become mentally ill at any time of their life we don't usually speak in terms of cures but rather of helping the patient face the stresses of modern living psychiatric nurses learn about their patients minds as well as their bodies they study the causes of their breakdowns and what treatments are likely to help them to recover why are you sitting here all on your own all the others are having coffee and you haven't been in at all you're completely isolated this morning do you always feel so depressed first thing in the mornings no you don't well has anything happened to upset you this morning do you do you feel neglected most of us take for granted such everyday things as working earning going home to the family being able to fit into society but there are people who may not be able to do these things because illness has isolated them and the problems of life have become just too much to cope with psychiatric treatment offers them the hope of a return to health or for their condition to be so improved that they can go back to family or community life problems but of course psychiatry is a relatively young branch of medicine and much is not yet known research constantly reveals fresh knowledge what is certain is that the relationship between patient and nurse is all important patients tend to relate closely to the nurse because that's the person they see most and concentrate on getting your confidence and getting well again between both at hospital policy meetings the relationship between staff and patients is always under review in this case by members of the teaching staff and the chief nursing officer as you know i have been uh discussing this whole question of the bond between the patient and the nurse and i'm not happy that what is being taught is put into practice i think the ways of overcoming this would be to extend our care study system and involve the clinical teachers more in the wards fair enough cliff but we only have a limited number of clinical teachers there's rather more to it than this there are the sisters and child nurses that we must take into consideration and also the nursing officers i think you should go and discuss this at your meetings and let me know what you decide but i'm interested in your comment about care studies because i think this is perhaps one of the best ways of developing a relationship between patient and nurse the care study this week is a case of anxiety with depression mrs jones is one of rod's patients and he will describe the case to you thank you mrs jones is aged 40 and has two children a boy and a girl how to bring the nurse nearer the patient a constant aim of psychiatric treatment one way is to encourage the student nurse to learn from his patient rather than from his textbook when they've spent a period of time with a patient students present a care study to fellow nurses and tutors as a basis for discussion family excuse me what job was this she had quite a skill job actually she worked as a machinist in a dress factory and the beginning of her problems came about two years ago when her son who was age 14 at the time was arrested for breaking and entering and appeared before juvenile court although his name didn't appear in the paper uh somehow mrs jones's workmates discovered this and began gossiping about it and she felt obliged to leave this job and since then she hasn't had a steady job she's worked in several different places and had financial worries because of this fact as well eventually the anxiety that she developed became so bad that she was admitted to this hospital and one of the first problems we had when she came in here was the fact that she didn't feel that she was really ill although she was depressed and very anxious she felt very guilty that she was taking the time of hospital staff there's nothing wrong with but i i really feel quite afraid i've never been in my life before but i just get terribly depressed i know it's it's over to worry about it to make you feel more at home i'll take you around and i'll introduce you to the other ladies on this ward now most of them are only here for a short time and i'm sure that you'll soon make some friends among them you'll also find that there are very few restrictions in the building and as you can come and go more or less as you please now in about half an hour the doctor will arrive on the ward and he'll understand all about your problems that you've got and he'll also tell you all about the treatment that you'll be receiving can you tell me in your own words what the problem is well i i've been feeling ever since so depressed lately these factors the fact that mrs jones had been removed from a troublesome home environment the war discussion groups and also the medication that she'd been prescribed all help to improve her condition considerably even up to two weeks after her admission what sort of medication was she on uh mrs jones was prescribed diazepam five milligrams twice daily this was to relieve the symptoms of her anxiety but her condition had improved so considerably just before a discharge that this was discontinued are you feeling better oh very much better now thank you doctor i'm very glad about that now the next phase in your treatment is to prepare you for your discharge which won't be very long now i should like you to go to the industrial rehabilitation unit here in the hospital grounds this will help you to get into the habit of mixing and working with people again uh it's quite a simple operation all you've got to do is pack three to a pack in the treatment of mental illness a new concept has come into being recently this is to treat people in day hospitals rather than having them live in day hospitals enable people to preserve their sense of identity as members of their families and their community in group psychotherapy patients can compare themselves with others which is an important adjusting mechanism that operates in all of us the nurses are not identified by wearing uniform in this treatment as they are an integral part of the group their job is to encourage stimulate or provoke discussion sometimes just sit and listen always to be able to ascertain and analyze problems as they arise in the intervals i i don't feel 100 i'm sorry i'm late sister i wonder why you were late because was it because the buses were too full no no it wasn't that it was just that i got a panic attack while i was waiting at the bus stop and two or three buses went by before i could get on i helped gosh say i used to be like that i've had it set me in the same feeling stiffness very kindly offered to accompany me until i gained confidence i'm sure you'd find some help if it could be arranged you know that's quite true you know um i did travel with you for a short while until such time as you were able to gain your confidence well let's make the same arrangements with you perhaps accompanying donald trump hospital and see if it would help him as you live quite near do you think it would help donald trump well i think it would know for a week or so perhaps just nowadays we don't admit patients to a psychiatric hospital unless it's absolutely necessary we tend to treat them in the day hospitals or in the community which is a setting of their illness or even in their own homes take this place for example the patients come here from 9 30 to 4 30 and then go home so that they are relieved some of the pressures and some of them are still with them they are not isolated for a period and then thrown back into the situation which may have caused their illness we were able to provide a much better service for these people by using the informal approach we don't wear a uniform and of course the link between the hospital and the community makes the nurses work far more interesting patients and their families often prefer treatment to be at home where this is medically and socially possible so nurses from psychiatric and general hospitals go out and work in the community this service is offered in cooperation with the community nursing services how long have you been a student that oh i've been nursing about 18 months now oh really well you have some conception of how the patient is nursed at home after they leave hospital yes we've been learning about community care with our tutors as a matter of fact i'm quite looking forward to seeing how people are nursed at home medical group practices welcome this close liaison with hospital staff come in hello alan come and sit down thank you i'm just going over today's list one of the things we must sort out is mrs dixon oh yes is she still hearing voices when i've had another call from the neighbours they say she's still shouting and throwing the cutlery about i went to the other day before yesterday put her on some tablets and met probably what i really want to know is whether these have made any difference to the situation i see can you go back today and check her response she's in here thank you oh i'm not too bad at all thank you good i understand the doctor left you some new tablets when he came last yes he did i think they're good do oh three times a day what's the matter with the television why is it facing the wall there's nothing the matter with it they told me this morning that the man in there could see me when i was undressing i didn't like that at all no of course not i turned it around yes are these the voices that that told you to throw your ornaments and your cutlery around of course but they don't tell me to do so many things now as they used to good i'm glad to hear that i have a very varied list of patients today we have to visit um our first one mrs walters is a multiple sclerosis is she bedridden yes she is now she has been for the last four years having had the illness for 20 years that we do go in daily and give her family support and nursing care come in good afternoon mrs water how are you today i'm feeling a little better today this is nath gordon from the hospital she's come out to help me and we've brought the helping hand i told you about yesterday yeah if you'd like to see how it works you press that trigger see slap your hands like that i'll show you oh yes there we are now you try and see how you like to thank you very much yes thank you excellent that should make life a little easier for you treating patients in their own homes also helps to keep beds available for people who need intensive hospital care what's the scenario this is leads attached to your chest and it's attached to the specific oscilloscope here which will tell us your heartbeat and your rhythm just what your heart is doing me quick can't regret call the team if the heart stops beating there are only about four minutes in which resuscitation procedures can save the patient excuse me please cardiac arrest ward 7. hello technician dr kevin ready give me time okay i have half a liter of eight point four percent by carbon and ampere with a general increase now heart's fitting normally blood pressure fine oh yes i'm feeling much better yes it was a couple of days ago this patient's life was saved thanks to prompt and efficient action by the nursing team nursing it's a job for people who care three days a day at least and i'm quite looking forward to seeing how the patients are looked after at home and once out of the supper when i go to bed i've forgotten amazing it takes time just try and be a little bit patient with yourself yes okay high yourself doing things that might interest you get back to work again i'm sure that we'll be able to help you while you're in the hospital geo geo come on walk towards me come on that's fine good come on that's it very good that's it