4West "C" Neighborhood at UCLA Health
October 2022
4West "C" Neighborhood
at UCLA Health
4 West Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Stewart and Lynda Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA
Los Angeles
,
CA
United States

 

 

 

Because of the patient's length of stay, staff have been creative in finding innovative ways to engage the patient by playing the patient's favorite music, singing karaoke, and playing foosball.
The 4W-C unit team helped care for a patient with treatment-resistant catatonia throughout this patient's extraordinarily long length of stay with compassion, dignity, and respect. Nursing staff, Care Partners, and MHPs helped care for this patient while the patient's mental and physical health declined. Over several months, the staff took care of the patient's basic needs all while preserving the patient's dignity. As time went on, the staff on 4W-C cared for the patient's well-being as if they were caring for their own family member.

Staff spent countless hours, using any and every resource they could to get the patient to maintain their sense of autonomy. The staff helped the patient dress themselves and even helped the patient eat when the patient no longer desired hospital food. In order to maintain the patient's spirits up, staff took turns and purchased In&Out, Subway, and Chick-fil-A just to help encourage the patient to eat. Additionally, with the patient's parents' permission, one of the staff members cut the patient's hair to maintain their self-esteem. Because of the patient's length of stay, staff have been creative in finding innovative ways to engage the patient by playing the patient's favorite music, singing karaoke, and playing foosball.

Within the 4W-C team, the OT/RT staff has also helped tremendously in the patient's recovery. The staff made it a point to take time out of their day to meet individually with the patient and conduct therapeutic groups that would help the patient with their autonomy. The patient's social worker and attending physician also spent countless hours writing letters to ensure the patient receives the care they need, and in the setting that is the most therapeutic.

And lastly, the 4W-C unit also shows appreciation and gratitude towards this patient's father. The patient's father has trusted the 4W-C unit team with taking care of their child and in return, everyone on the team feels as though the patient is part of their family and can't wait for the patient to get back to their life.