NC State psychiatric facilities

NurseCrit · Jul 31, 2003

I use to work part-time at Cherry Hospital and I was wondering if they would accept me back as a travel nurse. I last worked there in Feb. of this year. Any insight?

FIDO · Aug 1, 2003

NurseCrit:

Cherry is undergoing a major shakeup in administration following a state sanctioned investigation into several allegations brought by current Cherry Hospital employees. The administration's stance on previous hospital employees that leave and join a travel agency has not been favorable. Supposedly, this is a state-wide practice. In the past, if you were an actual Cherry Hospital employee, on the payroll as a member of the NC DHHS, Cherry would not offer your agency a contract for you. The same applies at present. Check with your company and see if this has changed or may be about to change. I've been told this is state policy, but some of what happens at Cherry, while purported to be state policy, doesn't always turn out to be state approved/mandated.

atomic1976 · Mar 26, 2008

Hi there! I am new to the forum too. I am a fairly new RN (graduated Dec 06) with 1 year inpatient psychiatric nursing experience, a BS in psychology and 6 years experience in human services prior to going to nursing school. My problem is, I hated hospital nursing because I have absolutely no interest in anything medical. The unit where I worked got a lot of elderly patients, transfers from the medical units, telemetry, IVs, foleys, etc. I want to stay away from that, psyc is my passion. I am debating between outpatient psyc nursing or travel psyc nursing. Are patients in state hospitals typically medically clear? What was your experience like? I appreciate your input!

Hello, everyone,
I'm new to the forum and was posting this message at various places and then realized it was better just to open a new thread.
For those of you interested in working for the State of NC, I have worked at both Cherry Hospital and Dorothea Dix. Both hospitals are state psychiatric institutions. If you are interested in travel assignments to either center, or even joining the staff, I can provide you with some information.

elkpark · Mar 26, 2008

Hi there! I am new to the forum too. I am a fairly new RN (graduated Dec 06) with 1 year inpatient psychiatric nursing experience, a BS in psychology and 6 years experience in human services prior to going to nursing school. My problem is, I hated hospital nursing because I have absolutely no interest in anything medical. The unit where I worked got a lot of elderly patients, transfers from the medical units, telemetry, IVs, foleys, etc. I want to stay away from that, psyc is my passion. I am debating between outpatient psyc nursing or travel psyc nursing. Are patients in state hospitals typically medically clear? What was your experience like? I appreciate your input!

My experience has been that the majority of state hospital clients are sicker, in general, in addition to their psychiatric difficulties, than the general public, and there is a lot of med-surg "overlap" in state hospital settings.

People who receive their psychiatric treatment in state hospitals tend to be a) poor, which statistically predisposes them to significantly poorer general health, and more chronic disease, than the general public, and b) seriously chronically mentally ill, which usually means they have taken pretty poor care of their general health and whatever specific health problems they may have over the years.

NPAlby · Apr 2, 2008

Hi there! I am new to the forum too. I am a fairly new RN (graduated Dec 06) with 1 year inpatient psychiatric nursing experience, a BS in psychology and 6 years experience in human services prior to going to nursing school. My problem is, I hated hospital nursing because I have absolutely no interest in anything medical. The unit where I worked got a lot of elderly patients, transfers from the medical units, telemetry, IVs, foleys, etc. I want to stay away from that, psyc is my passion. I am debating between outpatient psyc nursing or travel psyc nursing. Are patients in state hospitals typically medically clear? What was your experience like? I appreciate your input!

I'm a psych travel RN and have seen less acuity as far as medical issues in state hospitals than in regular medical centers/hospitals. Of course it depends where you work but from the three different state hospitals I've worked (in different states) we usually send the patients out if they're too medically ill. Most places don't even let us do IV's. Plus in State you usually get the sickest (psychiatrically) than in the medical hospitals. There won't be any depressed grandma's unless grandma is truly psychotic. As far as outpatient, I hear it's a lot of paperwork but that heresay. I haven't done outpatient psych.

jhhrn68 · Apr 2, 2008

Hello to all. I grew up at Cherry Hospital - my dad was a doctor there. All the employees had to live on the grounds and there were lots more houses then and lots of kids. I know this is not pertinent to the question but couldn't help throwing this in. My mother also worked there - she was an RN. I never could get interested in psych nursing.