Coming into simulation, I knew it was going to be a little bit awkward because this was something we have never done before. I have not even gotten a chance to interact with a patient on the mental health floor yet, so I was nervous about saying the wrong thing or just not knowing what to say. I thought it would be challenging to question the person in a group of 4 because it would not sound as coherent. That was the case for the first person, but the case itself was also very difficult. As well moved through the 3 cases we got better at bouncing off of each other and not sounding clueless. An unexpected challenge was what to do when a patient does not respond to you. It is very difficult to ask questions to a person who is barely answering you. Also, wording questions in a way that made sense but also allowed for elaboration by the patient was more difficult than expected. As we moved through the day it did get easier to ask the hard/uncomfortable questions which made the interviews go more seamlessly. I learned that you can’t just fire questions at the patient because it makes them feel weird and overwhelmed. I also learned that you have to have a plan of how you are going to ask the questions, because if not you miss important information that could be pertinent to the patient’s case. I feel more prepared now to address mental health issues in a clinical setting because now I know what questions need to be ask and when to ask them. I also know the appropriate responses that I should have instead of just continuing to ask questions. Overall, I think the first simulation was a success and I feel way more prepared for the next simulation.
