So hooray for the IPRs today. I got to sleep in a smidge, as I had already done preschool. Lecture began at 1200 today, and it was on culture and how to communicate in a culturally competent way. It's going to be difficult to get rid of some preconceived notions I have; not that I consider myself a particularly racist or prejudiced person. However, we did a brief exercise before beginning lecture, and it made me realize that I need to keep a more open mind and take some time to learn about other cultures so I can consider more than one reason.
One of the situations was a young woman coming in with welts and circular burn-looking marks on her back. My immediate reaction was that she was abused, but the actual situation was that she was of a culture that believed in cupping. I have never heard of this practice, but apparently a cup is heated up and placed on the ill person's skin to draw out evil spirits.
Another situation was a women not wanting to see her baby right after he was born. My first thought was an undesired pregnancy, perhaps a rape. But, the situation was again a cultural belief that there must not be any bonding with the child until it has reached a certain age, because it may be susceptible to learning evil ways.
So, point of the story is that I would like to spend some time learning about other cultures and religious practices so I can be more culturally competent and have a more open mind to not just jump to conclusions.
After lecture, we had the IPR experience. I had a strange situation. The scenario was set in a busy walk-in clinic that was understaffed. I had to go in to see the patient to find out what brought her in and to tell her that it was going to be at least an hour before the doctor could see her. The client was avoidant and made eye contact maybe once. I basically just took care of what the objectives were on the scenario sheet, and then went to write down every word that was exchanged to analyze later. It was really nerve-wracking and I don't think I did anything correctly. I felt like there wasn't much opportunity to be therapeutic.
In any case, I am glad it's over. That was one stressor I am happy to have behind me.
My lab partner came over one more time tonight so we could practice for our exam tomorrow. We were both under 25 minutes and only forgot a few things. Overall, though, I think we are super prepared and are going to do really well.
No comments:
Post a Comment