Are psych units closing in your area?

ScientistSalarian · Aug 19, 2016

In my area (coastal CA) we only have one 16-bed inpatient psych unit run by the county as its own facility.

None of our hospitals have dedicated inpatient psych units, and it's a huge problem imo. We see patients all the time who could benefit from a psych consult at the very least, but the vast majority are medically cleared and discharged without having their psych issues addressed in any meaningful way.

verene, MSN · Aug 19, 2016

In my area several in-patient psych units at different hospitals are being consolidated into a single free-standing psych hospital. Supposedly it is to increase access to care and reduce ED wait time for individuals seeking in-patient psych treatment. However the creation of this new facility and closure of the old in-patients units is reducing the total number of psych beds in the county. We'll see how effective the new facility is - it does seem like a lot of thought went into the design and there are a lot of reasons to be excited about it, but the reduction in beds does have me a little hesitant to be fully behind it.

As a nursing student who wants to work in psych when I graduate, my chances of getting an in-patient job got a lot lower with this move. Each of the old units would take at least couple new grads every year, but I can't see this new facility being able to absorb and train more than a handful of new grads a year if that.

Trying to get myself some community mental health program contacts now and build skills that will be useful in out-patient and community based settings.

Sour Lemon · Aug 20, 2016

I'm a float nurse and psych is my favorite unit. I was hoping to transfer there full time but they are closing the unit. I'm so disappointed. They also closed the psych unit of a neighboring med-surg hospital. Is this true in your area? My dream of working in mental health is looking bleak.

I work psych and med/surg (alternately) in the same hospital. The inpatient psych unit is not closing, but it is changing to geri-psych (at some point) which sounds a lot like med/surg to me.

The outpatient program affiliated with the hospital recently closed down, entirely.