Reflective piece about week 1 placement in the acute psychiatric unit - Essay Example

During the induction programme, I gained new knowledge about the philosophy of care. In case of emergency, I realized that occupational therapists should know how to do accident/incident reporting. It is equally important to gain familiarity about the hospital building premises and other hospital policies (i.e. fire policy and procedures). Trust policy and Health and Safety policy serves as a guide on what occupational therapists should do while rendering therapeutic services to the in-patients.

For example, after gathering patient’s health information from the RIO database, occupational therapists should observe the law of confidentiality. Unless there is a need to discuss the patient’s case with other related healthcare professionals, occupational therapists should keep the patients’ name and identity confidential to the public. The use of music therapy can help improve the physiological, emotional and psychological needs of the patients by making their mood more stable (Rose and Weis, 2008; Stefano et al, 2004).

Therefore, Music Therapy is the best modality when rehabilitating the psychiatric inpatients. Since music therapy can make the inpatients feel feel more relaxed and less stressed (Stefano et al, 2004), occupational therapists can use this modality to lower the patients’ blood pressure. Occupational therapists can use art therapy to encourage the psychiatric inpatients to verbalize their hidden thoughts and feelings (Chessick, 2003). When treating psychiatric patients, occupational therapists should consider the concept of person-centredness.

By allowing the inpatients to verbalize their thoughts and feelings, occupational therapists can give them the opportunity to make their own decisions in life.ReferencesChessick, R., 2003. Handbook of Art Therapy. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, pp. 2075-2076.Rose, J. and Weis, J., 2008. Sound meditation in oncological rehabilitation--a pilot study of a receptive music therapy group using the monochord. Forschende Komplementarmedizin, 15(6), pp. 335-343.Stefano, G., Shu, W., Cadet, P., Salamon, E.

and Mantione, K., 2004. Music alters constitutively expressed opiate and cytokine processes in listeners. Medical Science Monitor, 10(6), pp. MS18-MS27.