Today was a day of being a beginner, a learner. New systems, new staff, new way of doing things, first Monday of my Psychiatry block. Learning the tricks of the trade, meeting family members, meeting new people. Ensuring current people can safely leave the place after being here for months, managing high risk aggressive people and most important of all, staying safe and sane amongst all this chaos.
The most memorable incident of today was putting a plaster on someone. Over the last year, this would have been a very simple task taking seconds. But, on this ward, with this particular person, it was an ordeal; an event, something they called a Planned Intervention. It involved staff from all over the hospital, one from each ward, to come and help. I was tasked with cleaning the wound and dressing it. They were actively bleeding, streaking across the floor, oblivious. All we wanted to do was clean it up and dress the wound. It was quite the sight. With all the legal powers in place, and in their best interests, they were restrained. Because of their size and power, this took quite a few people. Trained in a way I had never seen or experienced before, it was quite impressive to watch. But there was no time to admire their skills, as I had to quickly clean and dress their ankle without getting kicked or punched. It was a remarkably smooth operation, and everyone else walked off afterwards as if not much had happened, including the person I put the plaster on. I was shocked.
I learned that everyone has their skillsets, everyone has their own training, their own experiences, their own expertise. Everyone brings something to the table. If you listen to your team, you learn so much about what they can and can’t do, about different ways of thinking about things. It opened my eyes to all the different things you have to consider before doing something as simple as putting a plaster on someone. It’s not always as straightforward as you might think.
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