Clinical experience in Psychiatric Ward

[mjune]

i will be having my clinical experience at the Psychiatric ward soon.

any advice you can give?

can you share your experiences in the ward?

can you give me some tips on making nursing diagnoses on psychiatric patients?

[allthingsbright]

Um yeah:

1. Never turn your back on a psyche patient and

2. Always place yourself between the client and the door.

Can ya tell I had fun in psyche clinicals? LOL! Good luck!!!!

[emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

1) soft eyes. Don't stare, could be mis-interpreted as aggressive.

2) don't go into rooms.

3) talk to the patients. Don't feed into their fantasies but try to find common ground and just talk.

4) for nursing diagnoses, look at ego/self esteem and potential for violence self/other directed.

[MN_NursingStudent]

I enjoyed my psych rotation, and I actually would consider working on a psych floor. Several of my classmates really liked it as well. Very few truly disliked it. I'm sure it varies depending on the hospital and group of clients, but I liked it because it's a bit more laid-back than med-surg, and you generally have time to talk with lots of the clients there, which is fun (at least, for me). If you like the more "human" side of nursing, as opposed to the technical side, you'll like psych. It's important to remember that mental illness does not discriminate, and affects people of all walks of life, socioeconomic class, education level, age, etc. Treat the clients with respect and remember they're more like you than you may think. Don't be afraid. Use common sense. Hopefully your instructors have taught you appropriate communication techniques for mental health clients. Some nursing diagnoses I used were self-care deficit, anxiety, impaired social interaction, social isolation, and disturbed thought processes. The appropriateness of the diagnoses of course depends on the patient and their main diagnosis. Good luck!

[yoginurse2b]

1) Ask open-ended questions, it helps to explore your pt more

2) If you sense something doesn't go right, or you feel threatened, don't hesitate to stand up and walk away, or just say stop

3) Never touch the pt...unless you really have to

4) If you find yourself don't know what else to ask/say to your pt, just keep quiet and stay with your pt...it's therapeutic just being able to be with pt

5) Always attend the group session, you'll learn so much from the psychologist (the way how they ask questions, etc), and of course your pts