Quilter0225

Latest Activity

1. Advise please

   Quilter0225 replied to texasbsn's topic in Psychiatric

   My corporate/standard nursing orientation was about 3 weeks long. My psych nursing orientation was about 6 weeks long, including a week of classroom time. I felt fine, ready to be on my own, at the end of orientation. I worked 40 hrs a week during...

2. Cogentin buzz?

   Quilter0225 replied to Quilter0225's topic in Psychiatric

   I didn't think about someone getting off on the needle stick! The other possibility that I thought of is that this patient is very borderline, so maybe this fits in with her "identity" as a mental patient. She has been in the hospital quite a while...

3. Cogentin buzz?

   Quilter0225 posted a topic in Psychiatric

   Has anyone ever heard of pts getting a buzz from IM Cogentin? I have a pt who insists that PO cogentin doesn't work, only IM. Her only complaint is eye rolling, and that seems to come and go, depending on whether or not she knows I'm looking at her...

4. Important Lessons my Patients have Taught me...

   Quilter0225 replied to SweetLemon's topic in Psychiatric

   I work in adolescent psych. If you are a borderline (and many of these young ladies are), be sure to have a borderline mother so you can set up a constant cycle of phone calls (2 allowed per shift) home to mom who will call the charge nurse for long...

5. Advise please

   Quilter0225 replied to texasbsn's topic in Psychiatric

   I am a new grad 3 weeks out of orientation on an adolescent psych unit. I love my job! We usually staff 2 nurses and 3 MHS's for 12 pts. The charge nurse makes pt assignments, goes to rounds, takes off orders, does admissions and discharges, and f...

6. Report sheet

   Quilter0225 replied to RN007's topic in Psychiatric

   We use a set of blurbs. Besides charting on your assigned patients, you also do a blurb on the shift report (a Word document). Under each pt's name there is a spot for a blurb and the Overt Aggression Scale score for each 8 hour shift. The med nur...

7. Patient Life Stories

   Quilter0225 replied to SweetLemon's topic in Psychiatric

   I just finished When Rabbit Howls written by some of the 92 multiple personalities of Truddi Chase (as a collaborative effort!) Not a very common disorder, but fascinating reading. For some eloquent perspectives on depression, try poetry by Sylvia ...

8. Sick of making mistakes and questioning why I ever became a nurse to begin with!

   Quilter0225 replied to BeachyRNn08's topic in New Nurse

   Just an update: I now work in adolescent psych and I love it. The staff is really a team. I actually get to interact with patients- in fact it's my job to interact! I just finished orientation yesterday. One of the charge nurses (a very experien...

9. Patient Life Stories

   Quilter0225 replied to SweetLemon's topic in Psychiatric

   Her name is Kay Redfield Jameson. I have two of her books: An Unquiet Mind (about her personal experience of Bipolar I) and Night Falls Fast (about suicide). I have read the first one a couple times and really enjoyed it. I just bought the second...

10. Suicide attempt on our pedi psych unit. Please keep my coworkers in your thoughts.

    Quilter0225 replied to NeoPediRN's topic in Psychiatric

    I am new to adolescent psych, but it sounds like you did everything you could to prevent this happening. Do you have free counselling (usually up to 5 sessions) from Employee Services? We recently had a presentation on this and they do in house cou...

11. Drawing blood and shakey hands!!!

    Quilter0225 replied to smak60's topic in New Nurse

    I have fine hand tremor bc of a med I take. It's a pain in the butt, but I have learned to work with it. Cutting out caffeine helps a lot. I haven't totally eliminated it bc then I would have to give up chocolate. That's not going to happen! I f...

12. New grad got "let go"

    Quilter0225 replied to americanlatina313's topic in New Nurse

    Something very similar happened to me a couple of months ago. I was given the option to resign rather than be fired. Management did not go through normal procedures of written reprimands, etc. I had a couple of meetings where my mistakes were poin...

13. Pros vs. Cons: Starting Career in Psych?

    Quilter0225 replied to JerseyGuy2's topic in Psychiatric

    I need to try psych--did and have been in it since pretty much. First inpatient where I used my medical skill a lot-- and now in Psych ER, which I like, it's a different kind of exhausting then inpatient psych. and different work in a lot of ways. Th...

14. Psychiatric-Mental Health Certification

    Quilter0225 replied to Deb117's topic in Psychiatric

    At what point in your career do you all suggest taking this test? Is it best to take it with a few years experience under your belt, or is this something I should be studying right away to bring myself up to speed?

15. Discussion: lobotomize the patient or lobotomize the system

    Quilter0225 replied to Jo Dirt's topic in Psychiatric

    I think the previous poster hit the nail on the head. Who gets to decide? What invests someone with the authority to make that decision? Do you go with a committee of experts in mental health? How about putting it through the courts? I can see t...