[Louisepug]

Hi! I have a job interview at a hospital for a psych aide position on Friday (yay!) I have a few questions about it. First of all, since I'd like to become a psych nurse, I feel that this position will give me good experience for that; but what EXACTLY are the duties of a psych aide? I have somewhat of an idea, but would love it if someone could give me a good description of what this job is like. Also, any tips for the interview on Friday? Thanks so much everyone!

[FutureRNMichael]

I work as an aide-for the state system. I think it varies greatly from place to place. Generally speaking, I think those of us who work in Psych and aren't degreed typically end up doing a lot of the grunt work that needs to be done by someone. Such as various light cleaning after meals,we typically sit on lots of the 1 to 1's with patients, charting on patient behavior/significant differences, mostly are around to keep things in order and help the patients meet their basic needs and be sort of a liason for the patients to the therapists,nurses and social workers.

Interview tips --- Be yourself.

Best of luck... Would love to hear how it turns out!

[Louisepug]

Thanks so much for your reply futureRNmichael ! I had a second interview today, so it looks like I got the job. I am very excited for the challenge that psych nursing offers. Have to admit though, that I am a little scared though. How often do aides get assulted by patients; particularly the ones in there for homicidal tendencies? Thanks again! Louisepug

[FutureRNMichael]

Well, out and out assaults, I have never seen(in 6 or so months). I work with some of the sicker people in the state and rarely hear of such happening. If you build their trust and listen to what they have to say, you should be ok. I have seen cases where a Patient has built up to going after a staff person. For instanse, one patient did not want to be discharged-refused to in fact-but the social workers kept working on finding a placement for this Patient. The patient mentioned several times of assualtive behaviors he was going to do if they kept working towards his D/c. And he did end up inadvertently hurting a tech. But the build up was long and drawn out. My point being, there is usually a way to intervene a problem before it happens. If for nothing else, your own sake.

Keep your eyes and ears open. You should do great. All in all, techs-whether degreed or not-learn 99.999% of the skills on-job.

Just curious, what type of facilitys have you interviewed at? Residential,Private hospital or a state run facility?

Best of luck. You will be building great skills for whatever field you decide to go into to. Feel free to PM me, if you want to talk further.

EDIT: Found a great thread for you to read through, if you haven't already. Great De-esclating tips: http://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8896