alb402

Latest Activity

1. Pediatric Psychiatry

   alb402 replied to kaeldean's topic in Psychiatric

   I'd also recommend looking into Collaborative Problem Solving, which is a newer model developed by Ross Greene. It teaches you to see children as lacking the skills to do well and teaching them these skills vs. taking an authoritative approach to int...

2. Will I be stuck as a Psych Nurse forever?

   alb402 replied to Peppermint_RN's topic in Psychiatric

   I was in the same mindset as you when I graduated nursing school a little over a year ago. I applied for a PRN position at an urgent care center and got it. While it's not med-surg and I'm not sure it would be enough experience to land me a job there...

3. Pressing charges

   alb402 posted a topic in Psychiatric

   A co-worker of mine who was hurt (kicking multiple times in the stomach and had to go to the ED) by an aggressive 17 years old patient on our C&A unit was discouraged from pressing charges and told by our HR department that she could "lose her li...

4. Staffing on C&A inpatient psych unit

   alb402 replied to alb402's topic in Psychiatric

   NurseKris is your unit a child and adolescent unit? I can only use data from these units due to the specialty and them usually requiring more staff.

5. Staffing on C&A inpatient psych unit

   alb402 posted a topic in Psychiatric

   Those of you that work on C&A inpatient acute psych units, what is your current staffing matrix (specific numbers per census)/HPPD and/or staffing guidelines? I've presented some literature to our management re: appropriate levels, but they'd als...

6. PRN orders

   alb402 replied to alb402's topic in Medications

   Thanks for the feedback! I'll be less nit-picky next time :) Ativan was a bad example as narcs are way different than Tylenol. I've just heard horror stories of nurses getting fired for giving a med in any way other than ordered.

7. PRN orders

   alb402 posted a topic in Medications

   If an order is written for Tylenol 650 mg po PRN headache/fever can the Tylenol be given for pain/menstrual cramps (outside of the order parameters) with "nursing judgment"? I'm a newer nurse (a year) and tried to get a Tylenol order changed so we co...

8. Confused Psych Student--any advice is appreciated!

   alb402 replied to confusedstudent20's topic in Psychiatric

   Every facility is different, but mine requires a bachelors in a human service related field (psychology, social work, etc). A nearby facility only requires current coursework in one of these disciplines. Definitely use your interest in psych nursing ...

9. New Grad offered Pediatric Psych Position

   alb402 replied to StellaLunaRN's topic in Psychiatric

   I agree with Orca and elkpark. I'm a charge nurse on a 16 bed child/adolescent unit. We always have 2 RNs on - one to pass meds and the other is charge. With only 16 kids - some shifts are beyond crazy with admissions, discharges, medical issues, res...

10. Time Limit on Time out for patients

    alb402 replied to conroenurse's topic in Psychiatric

    Joint Commission recognizes ANY time you tell a patient they can't leave a room or physically prevent them to do so as a seclusion. I work C&A and we got dinged when they asked a kid if he was allowed to come out of his room and he said no. We're...

11. Another nurse falsifying my initials

    alb402 replied to alb402's topic in Medications

    I thought about talking to him but he could easily deny it to me and it would go no where. If it were a different nurse I might think it was done innocently, but this nurse is notorious for cutting corners and not doing his job. He sees psych nursing...

12. Another nurse falsifying my initials

    alb402 replied to alb402's topic in Medications

    That's exactly what I did. I didn't want to point fingers without knowing for sure and figured it would be best for her to investigate who it was that signed it. There are only 4 staff that worked that shift (we're a 16 bed unit) so it's pretty clear...

13. Another nurse falsifying my initials

    alb402 posted a topic in Medications

    I'm a charge nurse on a psychiatric unit where patients on suicide watch need to have a body/room search done each shift. One of the staff forgot to document that she completed this the other night. When she went to initial for doing the checks the n...

14. Just a vent... medical vs psych

    alb402 replied to Mandychelle79's topic in Psychiatric

    Amen. I really wish people (upper management/the admissions department/ERs) knew what goes on on a daily basis on a psych unit. There are not numerous nurses waiting to take admissions. There are 1-2 nurses who are responsible for med passes, verifyi...

15. Adding psych on as a second job? Your thoughts...

    alb402 replied to Billy_Ruben's topic in Psychiatric

    IMO and experience, you have to be fairly laid back and not upset easily by things. Especially working in C&A, you'll be called every name in the book and children have a way finding flaws and pointing them out. You just have to be very aware of ...