Background
    • Student Anxiety
    • Stigma of Mental Illness
    • Traditional Methods of Instruction
    • Limited Clinical Placements
    • Random Patient Encounters
    • Core Skills
          Toolkits
   • Year 1
        Professional Boundaries and   
           Therapeutic Communication
        
        Managing Hallucinations and    
           Delusions
        
        Assessing Suicidal Behavior
              Tool Kit 1 – Student Assignment   
                Title – Therapeutic Communication   
                     and Professional Boundaries
      Objectives
      At the completion of this clinical experience, the student will 
      be able to:
      1. Discuss how empathy, genuineness, and positive regard 
      impact the  
           nurse-patient relationship
      2. Compare and contrast therapeutic versus social 
      relationships
      3. Define transference and countertransference
      4. Identify factors that affect communication
      5. Identify and discuss therapeutic and non-therapeutic 
          communication techniques
      6.  Demonstrate effective therapeutic communication 
      techniques 
      Pre-Assignment activities
      Read Chapters 8 and 9 in Halter, M. J. (2014). Varcarolis’ 
      Foundations of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing: A Clinical 
      Approach. Elsevier St. Louis: Missouri.  (Or selected 
      psychiatric nursing textbook).
      Video Vignette Client Description 
       25 year- old Miss Jones currently shares an apartment 
       with two female roommates.  She completed two years of 
       college but dropped out due to issues of anxiety.  She 
       continues to struggle with anxiety daily and has difficulty 
       in social situations.  This has led to difficulty in 
       maintaining a job.  She currently works part-time for an 
       online company taking orders for products.  She has been 
       hospitalized once in the past for mental health issues.  
       Her psychiatrist prescribed anti-anxiety medication and 
       she has been in outpatient treatment for the past year.  
       Miss P has one older sister and there is a family history 
       of both anxiety and depression.  Her maternal aunt 
       committed suicide at the age of 40 and her maternal 
       grandmother was hospitalized with depression in her 
       early 30s.  Miss P. presents to the outpatient clinic this 
       morning with complaints of increased anxiety, worry, and 
       difficulty sleeping.  She appears jittery and is having 
       difficulty focusing.  
     Directions - Watch video vignette and complete the following written 
     assignment. Submit to clinical faculty.
     1. Write a one to two page reflection about your feelings about working 
     with an individual with mental illness.  
     2. Answer the following questions:
         a.  What is transference?
         b.  What is countertransference?
         c.  Did you observe any issues of transference or countertransference 
               in the video?  Discuss in detail  what you observed.
     d.  Identify at least three therapeutic communication techniques 
             used by nurse in video.  Be specific as to naming the technique 
             and what the nurse said.
     e.  Identify two non-therapeutic communication techniques used by 
             nurse in video.  Be specific naming the technique and what the 
             nurse said.  Provide a modification as to what the nurse could 
             have said to make the interaction therapeutic in these examples.