Nursing Reflective Journal

Reflective Journal 1
This is a reflective journal on the nursing care of psychiatric patients in the inpatient setting. This journal will reflect on the milieu management, new learning experience, and my expressions of my own feelings towards the psychiatric facilities at John Hopkin’s hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
Milieu Management
Milieu management, also known as environmental management, is a driven method put in place to ensure restorative benefit from the environment in which the patient is surrounded. This type of therapeutic management is put in place whether the patient is in an acute-care setting at a hospital, an outpatient facility, or at home by implementing these six elements: safety, structure, norms, limit setting, balance,
One way that John Hopkins psychiatric unit achieved this was by creating a fenced in area outside where the patients could go an enjoy some fresh air and sunlight (Chisolm & Brach, 2001). This is a luxury that most other psychiatric units in hospitals do not have for their patients.
New Learning Experience By viewing this film, I have gained more respect for those who take care of psychiatric patients and those who are taken care of by nurses in the psychiatric unit. I learned that the process to recovery is not achieved easily and requires help from the nurses, doctors, patient, family of the patient, and peers. I also learned some therapeutic communication by listening to the nurses in the film such as asking the patients family member how he is doing and allowing the patient to make decisions for themselves after instruction has been given.
Expression of Own’s
My mom works with the mental health community at one of the facilities we will be visiting. She has taught me how to therapeutically communicate with patients as well as made me comfortable around them. The John Hopkins film made me feel even more confident when talking to psychiatric patients because of the therapeutic communication skills that all of the nurses had. The patients in the movie were assisted in their treatment with medications, teaching, talk therapy, and continuous monitoring. For example, anorexic patients had to eat a certain number of calories and were continuously monitored when they ate and went to the rest room to ensure that the therapy was effective. This film will help my future treatment of patients because it has taught me how to communicate with patients who have different illnesses as well as their family