Never a dull moment

I've only been on my unit for 3 days, and I've already seen plenty of craziness. It usually seems pretty calm, but it's usually not long before something happens to make me laugh. It may be a patient who decides to walk around with paper towels shoved up his nose, ears, and mouth, a schizophrenic patient who talks to walls but suddenly decides to scream at someone, or a guy who thinks he's a visiting doctor. We also have the King of Africa with us (if you listen to him). I've seen all that and more, and I haven't even really started talking to patients yet. I've walked around a little and had a few very short conversations, but I'll actually get my own patients next week. Then, the fun should really begin (I use fun as a relative term).

It would seem that getting my psychiatrist supervisor was both good and bad. On one hand, he doesn't really give us any direction (unless we ask for it) and he's the only doctor in the place that assigns his students homework! I've never heard of a clinical professor assigning daily homework and I'm really not all that happy about it. On the other hand, the assignments aren't really graded (the grading scale is happy face or frown face) and I've heard that students often call back after they get their shelf score, thanking him. He does like to teach, and he's good at it. And, while he doesn't give much direction, he is extremely willing to help if you ask anything specific or have a question. But, I've taken a little initiative, have spent some time with the nurses, and I'm starting to figure it all out. I'm looking forward to having patients assigned next week.

Oh, and as an aside, the Spring Grove Cafe is pretty damn awesome! I would have never expected good food from a state mental hospital cafe, but I was wrong! It's actually very nice looking inside, and the food is mostly delicious! They give huge portions, cheap prices, and it all tastes good. The chocolate peanut butter cake in the picture was as good as it looks. The $5 coupons they gave us (one for each day) don't hurt either.