Danger money/ early retirement

[marjoriemac, LPN]

I learned off a colleague that some nurses working in psychiatry get extra wages and early retirement due to the dangers in their work , ie getting physically abused and the mental strain of working with mental disorder. It got me thinking about working ltc, I get hit by patients, I have to endure 50+ repetitions of why am I here, what time is it, have I had my tea in one personal care session, there are days I feel like banging my head off a wall in the resident lounge (not that the residents would notice as they would be too busy fighting with each other!). Where's my incentive???

[oramar]

I have been thinking about something along that line also. It appears that society at large thinks that all the psyciatric cases are on the psych unit. Truth is we deal with the same behaviors out on the medical units day in day out with less resources. For instance, I was reading an article written by a psycologist about dealing with patients who self mutalate. The writer assumed that these patients would be on a psych unit with proper supervision. The article was no help to me because I was searching for info about dealing with a person that might hurt themselves while a patient on med/surg. Truth is most people with major psych problems spend a good deal of time out on the units. I have had many psych patients who recieved ALL of their treatment in intensive care and med/surg and who subsequently were released to community mental health with no inpatient psych treatment what so ever. That does not even begin to address all the patients I have had who had mild to moderate behaviors that never even get the notice of the mental health community.

[Katnip, RN]

I work in psych and don't get extra wages. I haven't seen any state facilities who pay extra around here either.

Anyone who deliberately works in a dangerous situation in order to get injured needs a psych consult themselves, IMO. They're willing to risk permanent damage to retire early?

As far as all the residents/patients being out of control, they aren't being medicated properly. It's a huge problem in the psych world.

[NurseCard, ADN]

I worked in an extremely tough state hospital for a year... just left there at the end of August... and I got paid the same as other nurses at other hospitals. Not one bit of any kind of hazard pay. None. Zilch.

I learned off a colleague that some nurses working in psychiatry get extra wages and early retirement due to the dangers in their work , ie getting physically abused and the mental strain of working with mental disorder. It got me thinking about working ltc, I get hit by patients, I have to endure 50+ repetitions of why am I here, what time is it, have I had my tea in one personal care session, there are days I feel like banging my head off a wall in the resident lounge (not that the residents would notice as they would be too busy fighting with each other!). Where's my incentive???

[chocokitten]

I've never heard of a nurse making more to work psych or getting to retire early because of it. Psych nurses know what they are getting into and different people like different fields. Some people might hate psych and would onyl work there if tehre were said benefits, however there are people (like me) that would never work in the ER and would love to work psych.

Our hospital pays the same rates and benefits to the psych nurses as they do the med/surg nurses

[facetiousgoddess]

Oramar hit the nail on the head. Irregardless of the unit, we all see "psych" cases. My favorite in subacute is the lol admitted for "ambulatory dysfunction" on 5 different psychotropics.

Then there is me and my co workers....a whole different type of psych!

Tres

Who once asked the doc for a pez dispenser filled with Ativan....