Am I stupid? I think so. Yes, definitely need better critical thinking.

OK. I used to be a travel nurse and I settled down into a wonderful hospital recently that I really enjoy. One of the things that made me want to become a staff member was the fact that my unit was a Pulmonary unit. It has tele beds, people on vents and all sorts of things I wasnt seeing much on on a basic M/S unit. I was ready to move out of M/S and this was a good step into a specialty, in my eyes at the time.

One thing I know about myself is (every nurse has their one patient population they would rather not care for) I'm not a fan of taking care of people with anxiety disorder. They come to the hospital, their stressed because they are sick, their meds are arranged differently and...........BAM, there you have it, anxiety disorder not being addressed and the pt. is showing it. People with anxiety disorder GO RIGHT THROUGH ME. Cant help them. Just cant.

So, why didnt it dawn on me that on a Pulmonary unit, with steroids being handed out like candy, I would see much more of this? I have 8 patients at night and, oh my, the panic attacks I've witnessed are................wow.

So, what do you guys do to help them. I'm not a new nurse, so I already know about checking if their breathing is OK and that part. But, when it is simply a matter of anxiety disorder and there is no ativan to give, what do you do to make the pt. more comfortable?