April 24th marked my first day back to the clinics in almost a year. I’ve spent the past month working at the inpatient psychiatry unit of the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
My first morning, I had the chance to awkwardly stand in the corner (like all good medical students do) as patients ran a Community Meeting. Community Meetings at the VA are ~15-minute meetings where veterans lead a discussion about their care. Everyone in the room – veterans and providers – introduces him or herself. Next, elected veteran representatives remind the group of the unit rules, and veterans have the opportunity to address any concerns that they might have. Finally, veterans who will be discharged have a moment to express their hopes for life back in the “real world”.
On my first day, the patients to be discharged spoke about what they learned about themselves during the admission, what they hoped to achieve once back at home, and how much the psychiatrists, phycologists, and nurses had impacted them. At that moment, all of my apprehensions about the upcoming month quickly dissipated. I will have the privilege of working with some amazing veterans as they seek treatment for their mental health disorders, and I couldn’t be more grateful for this opportunity.
As a result, this blog site was born! I hope to document my experiences this month (in a HIPAA-approved manner of course) because I’m pretty sure this month will be incredibly impactful 🙃. More than that, I will share my reflections on experiences in the classroom, in the workplace, and everything in between.
Thanks for joining me on this journey!
-Atasha Jordan, MD (to be)
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