Umberlee

Umberlee

Member
  • Content

    123
  • Visitors

    4,561
  • Followers

    0

About Umberlee

Umberlee has 10 years experience.


Latest Activity

  1. How many different nursing positions have you had?

    I spent 12 years working in a residential setting for adults with brain injuries, but only part of that was as a nurse. Then I went to group homes for the developmentally disabled and then acute psych, then to community psych. So with BI/DD/MI I've...
  2. Psych nursing? scope of practice

    Different places have different names/titles for direct care staff in psych settings. We used to require our mental health workers be CNAs, but now the job qualifications emphasize more training or experience in behavioral health. Most of our menta...
  3. Keeping up nursing skills

    I'll admit I was kind of appalled when I started working the floor at my psych hospital and saw the lack of comfort that long-term psych nurses had developed regarding routine medical procedures. I've even worked with a few psych nurses who stated t...
  4. Networking for ACT/CTT?

    Part of the issue is that the fidelity model we're following is one provided by the state, since they are funding the grant paying for our team. It's quite a bit different than the model espoused by NAMI, and missing key components such as having a p...
  5. Networking for ACT/CTT?

    Yeah, your staffing is insane compared to ours. They expect us to take on 40 clients with the 3.7 FTE staff we have now. And one car, and double-staffing appointments. Honestly we couldn't stop double-staffing even if our team lead and management dec...
  6. Networking for ACT/CTT?

    This has been a big issue for us too...housing is such a problem, and when these guys disappear onto the streets it can be soooo tough to find them and figure out how to keep them stable/safe/etc. We also have quite a few clients who are chronic can...
  7. long-acting IM going SQ?

    Ugh, I feel like such an idiot...I have a client who is getting stable on haldol decanoate, but he is gaining weight due to taking PO lithium as well. I gave his decanoate in his deltoid, per his usual preference, but I was on the fence as to whethe...
  8. How important is your 'look' as a nurse

    Awesome, now where can I find 40-inch heels??
  9. Networking for ACT/CTT?

    It seems that this forum is heavily crisis stabilization/inpatient, and the public health nursing forum is heavily medical. As a community-based psych nurse, I'm desperate for a little networking and camaraderie with other ACT/CTT nurses. I'm part of...
  10. How important is your 'look' as a nurse

    I've been thinking about this more and more recently. My very first job as an LPN I was made to take out my nosering due to my supervisor's opinion that it was "unprofessional." As I'm feeling some sort of early midlife crisis approaching, I have the...
  11. Working Alone

    One of my jobs is as a nurse contractor, and that's about the "alonest" of a nursing job I've gotten. I do 90% of my job via phone calls, texts, emails, and faxes. I don't have to staff appointments or worry much about the day-to-day goings-on in t...
  12. Your first experience with a dead person

    I remember a tiny, extremely contracted little lady with very advanced dementia. She was just like a little ball of a woman, arms and legs and back and everything bound up so tightly from strokes and disuse, she had hardly any range at all. When sh...
  13. haldol

    I typically see the haldol only given when the patient has a history of addiction.
  14. Yikes! Violence?

    I worry about violence too...I'm now working a mixture of inpatient and outpatient, but primarily outpatient. As part of a local brand-new ACT team, we're seeing clients in their homes and in the community. So far we have a very small caseload so I ...
  15. Working crazy hours

    Right now I have four jobs, and I'm not all that happy with any of them. My "main" job is only 27 hours a week but it's split over four days which is ridiculous and costs me an extra couple hundred a month in day care. Because of that I picked up a...