State Hospitals, What are they like?

[FutureRNMichael]

I have been looking for quite awhile at a job in one of Oregon State Hospitals Psych Units.

Im sure some of you Psych folks have experience on being in the inside of a State Hospital. What's it like? Does it look like something out of a movie? How often do patients attack staff? What is the work going to be like for a Mental Health Therapy Tech?

Ive hard some really scary things about them. In Oregon in particular, like 1/3 of the Doctors or some huge amount in the OSH had been cited for different sorts of things. Ranging from kinda bad to horrible.

At the same time, I feel I would learn a lot about myself,my future and get good experience in an area I have always found interesting. Also have the chance to make a difference in people who do not see a lot of difference in their lives. :balloons:

I have already decided however I will not work with the Geriatric population in this setting. My interest lies much more towards the younger people who still have a chance at going onto to have a decent life.

Sorry about the length. Noone in my fam genereally likes to listen to my thoughts on this so I leave them for you kind folks to ponder. :rotfl: Any info would be AWESOME!

[nursemary9, BSN, RN]

Hi Michael,

As others have said, be completely honest with your answers.

When I was a Nsg. Supervisor of an In-Patient Psych unit, years ago, we had an applicant who was just wonderful when we interviewed him.

He was hired & he did a pretty good job. On down the line, it was found out that he had been a patient in a psych hospital where I had worked.

He was let go--but only because he out & out lied about being in the hospital.

I worked with another nurse who had a psych history--in-patient & out-patient. She was open and honest about her past. She was hired, did super-well and she was on the unit until she decided to go back to school for anesthesia.

I worked Psych for over 10 yrs. and loved every minute of it.

I hope you will enjoy it.

Good Luck to you