DesertKat

DesertKat has 3 years experience and specializes in psychiatric, rehab.

Latest Activity

1. Sick and exhausted

   DesertKat replied to DesertKat's topic in General Nursing

   No, nothing legal. I wouldn't have a leg to stand on even if I did want to sue. I guess I just want them to recognize exactly how tenuous their position was and how easily it could have lead to a major lawsuit. I think they seriously need to rethink ...

2. Sick and exhausted

   DesertKat replied to DesertKat's topic in General Nursing

   Oh, I am looking and trying to maintain my professionalism. My staff and the doctors I work with are being very supportive, which is a huge blessing. I was relieved to walk away from the management position and my husband is as well- maybe we can act...

3. Sick and exhausted

   DesertKat replied to DesertKat's topic in General Nursing

   Forgot the part where I couldn't reach my husband because he is Air Force and they were in the middle of an exercise. Time management has nothing to do with being assigned every shift that another nurse turned down or finding my name penciled into t...

4. Sick and exhausted

   DesertKat posted a topic in General Nursing

   So in January I was promoted to nurse manager so all sorts if long hours and steep learning curves insued- which I expected. What I did not expect was that once I became salaried, I also became the hospital lackey. I had to take all the overtime and ...

5. orientation

   DesertKat replied to Squeaky44's topic in Psychiatric

   I was just out of school. The orientation I got was one day of orientation to the facility itself and then the one week following other rns. There was little rhyme or reason to it and then I was tossed out on my own. The only thing that saved me was ...

6. orientation

   DesertKat replied to Squeaky44's topic in Psychiatric

   Depends on the facility. I was a new grad and got one week and then became charge nurse, so there you go. The main difference is that I have found that nurses new to the psych field tend to forget that they are now treating the mind. They tend to d...

7. Do psych nurses actually make a difference?

   DesertKat replied to Lola77's topic in Psychiatric

   Yes. And no. There were days when I really helped people and there were days when all I did was be a glorified unit secretary. There are so many elements to the psych setting that, frankly, you could land in a really great place or a really horrid ...

8. nursing students and behavioral health units

   DesertKat replied to inthesky's topic in Psychiatric

   Yeah well, remember the phrase "nurses eat their young"? Sadly its often true. I can't advise you more then saying that you are going to have to be your own best advocate. Unfortunately in nursing you only seem to get what you demand.

9. Whew!

   DesertKat posted a topic in Psychiatric

   Well, I am done. I handed in my resignation and notice this morning. I am just tired of the yelling, irrational accusations, abuse and knee-jerk irrational over-reacting. And for anyone thinking I am talking about the patients, ha! I have been je...

10. Dogs and Nurses

    DesertKat replied to Jayhawk4Life's topic in General Nursing

    I crate trained a puppy while in school and then adopted another dog that was about 2 years old who also happened to have a lovely case of giardia when I got him. I managed to get through both without too much mayhap, though it is better if you have...

11. nursing students and behavioral health units

    DesertKat replied to inthesky's topic in Psychiatric

    It isn't the object of his psychosis that matters, its the result. There are plenty of people who are delusional, actively hallucinating or are extremely paranoid that still function relatively well. If the psychosis develops to the point in which ...

12. nursing students and behavioral health units

    DesertKat replied to inthesky's topic in Psychiatric

    In short, he doesn't. But he does have to engage himself. A man living on his own and not interacting with the world looses out, but that in and of itself does not need intervention. If he is so involved with his psychosis that he no longer eats, s...

13. adolescent psychiatry

    DesertKat replied to wanna_be_brave_nurse's topic in Psychiatric

    I don't think one population is really better or worse then the other. Speaking as someone who used to be a high school teacher, its all about controlling yourself, picking your battles and learning to accept that kids push boundaries. I find I ten...

14. nursing students and behavioral health units

    DesertKat replied to inthesky's topic in Psychiatric

    ----Off topic rant---- The anthropologist in me shudders each time nurses talk about culture because, frankly, few have a real clue. Few nurses have the training and the experience to step out of their own culture to address the true cultural needs...

15. Can mental illness be cured?

    DesertKat replied to Meraki's topic in Psychiatric

    Why would one not say that some mental illness is, indeed, incurable? Are there not plenty of physical ailments which are incurable? Therefore, why would we expect any less from mental illness, especially when one considers that the treatment for s...