I had a difficult time in simulation last week.  Working with actors and working in a group made me very nervous and hesitant to speak or jump in with my other group members.  I would often have what I wanted to say in my head prepared but then when it was my turn to speak, my mind would go blank and I would forget what I am saying altogether.  This is not who I am and I think that this emotional response was just me being overwhelmed.   This was frustrating for me because I came prepared and have been able to have great conversations with patients in the clinical setting.

     However, with that being said, there were plenty of positive takeaways from this experience.  The actors that came in gave me a better idea of what to expect with certain patients.  For example, I have never had an encounter with a currently manic patient before so to be able to see this and interact with them in person was very helpful for future practice.  Another positive from this experience was just to be able to learn from each other and the mistakes each one of us made.  Having the ability to make mistakes and learn from them in the simulation environment rather than the clinical setting was helpful to learning. 

     Overall, even though I could have performed better, I was able to learn from the different interactions and from my classmates/the feedback we received.  I understand that emotional reactions are normal in the simulation environment and I will take this experience and learn from it continuing to progress.