Emotionally drained at the end of 8 hours

Specialties Psychiatric

Published

hi, i am a nurse for about 3 years now and i am just finishing the last month and a half until its one year on the behavioral health unit. it is a closed, involuntary unit. patients are acutely psychotic and very sick. although i seem to like it so far, i come home everyday drained emotionally and physically. my other friends that are med/surg nurses say psych must be easy, but i try to explain that this field in nursing is so difficult. both mentall and physically. does anyone else feel that way? does the daily head aches ever end?

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frequently yes, just returned to work from maternity leave & after having 4 months off it is like nothing has changed one bit. Still excessivly short staffed, still the very difficult patients & your token pia staff member who wishes they were the boss but are not...lol. Eh I know it won't be this way forever it just seems like it when the unit is high. ((hug)) Bets of luck to ya & nope you are not alone in feeling that way.

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Specializes in Psych.
frequently yes, just returned to work from maternity leave & after having 4 months off it is like nothing has changed one bit. Still excessivly short staffed, still the very difficult patients & your token pia staff member who wishes they were the boss but are not...lol. Eh I know it won't be this way forever it just seems like it when the unit is high. ((hug)) Bets of luck to ya & nope you are not alone in feeling that way.

Yes, op, it's not just you. This job takes a lot out of you. What is a pia staff?

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Your a better person than I, almost dropped out of nursing school because of psych. My hat is off to you--thanks for doing what you do

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatric, Behavioral Health.

Folks often short change psych. It is NOT an easy field. And, it is not for everyone. The key is to take care of yourself, mentally, emotionally, and physically, while on and off the clock. You need time outs to relax, to enjoy laughter, and enjoy friends and family that will recharge your batteries. I' worked psych inpt and outpt 10 years....and just as long in med surg and rehab. In psych, you worry about patients jumping off the bridge. In med surg, you worry about them jumping over the bed rails...just different types of work stress. Emergencies abound in each field. A psychiatric emergency can be just as energy draining as a med surg emergency...sometimes, even more so. And yes, the paperwork abounds. What I'm trying to say is take care of yourself...regardless which type of nursing you are in. I wish you well.

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Yes, op, it's not just you. This job takes a lot out of you. What is a pia staff?

Pain In Ass staff

FYI....

Sonya

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I agree with Thunderwolf. You will start to feel more comfortable as (more) time passes and you become more confident in your skills. However, to be successful in psych, each person must find an effective balance between objectivity and subjectivity -- if you are too detached and impersonal, you don't really do the clients any good; but if you are too "emotionally involved" and empathetic, you also don't do the clients any good, and the work will eat you alive.

The balance is different and personal for each individual, but you must find it (and, of course, some people can't find a balance and just aren't cut out for psych at all, but I don't say that to imply that you're one of them!) It's also v. important in the kind of high-stress/high-demand psych environment that you describe to make sure that your personal life outside of work is in "good working order" -- that you have personal relationships, support, and interests/activities that enable you to get your personal/emotional needs met away from work, and that you are practicing healthy lifestyle habits (diet, exercise, sleep, etc.) Of course, our jobs are important parts of our lives, but don't allow this one to dominate your life ...

I don't mean to sound too grim -- I've been a psych nurse for ~20 years (10 as a staff nurse, 10 as a psych CS), and am one of those people who would go hungry before I'd do any other kind of nursing. Yes, it can be v. enjoyable and rewarding. Best wishes for your future on the unit --

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Specializes in Psych.
Folks often short change psych. It is NOT an easy field. And, it is not for everyone. The key is to take care of yourself, mentally, emotionally, and physically, while on and off the clock. You need time outs to relax, to enjoy laughter, and enjoy friends and family that will recharge your batteries. I' worked psych inpt and outpt 10 years....and just as long in med surg and rehab. In psych, you worry about patients jumping off the bridge. In med surg, you worry about them jumping over the bed rails...just different types of work stress. Emergencies abound in each field. A psychiatric emergency can be just as energy draining as a med surg emergency...sometimes, even more so. And yes, the paperwork abounds. What I'm trying to say is take care of yourself...regardless which type of nursing you are in. I wish you well.

Just so you know, thunderwolf, the psych unit I work on has both worries, the jumpin off the bridge AND over the bed rail. We get way too many pt's that are frail elderly/medically compromised AND on meds(psych) that potentiate fall risk/medical complications. Oh well, I never come home wondering if I have earned my pay.

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There is no other nursing I would do, although now I'm not sure I even want to con't working as a nurse. My current job,as far as helping pts., when I get the time, I love it. My big problem, is getting the time. I am the only RN, in fact the only licensed person able to give nursing care, take off orders, give meds, etc, etc, etc. I am responsible for up to 18 pts. assistance of 2 or 3 unlicensed (but, educated) therapists, to do groups, 1:1's etc. However, I literally pour and distribute hundreds of meds everyday :o Plus all the other things that are "the nurses" job. I rarely, if ever, get off the floor during a 12 and 1/2 hour shift. I feel unappreciated and overworked and sometimes overwhelmed. I have been an RN for 30 years and for the first time in my 30 years I got suspended for insubordination and failure to do what was required of me. I had 17 patients, (1 was detoxing), it took me an hour to pour morning meds and 25 minutes to give morning meds. Plus I had to give PRNs etc. And I had to give report to 2 docs, Discharge 1 pt. and take doctors orders off and I sat down to eat my lunch, after running around like a chicken with my head just slightly attached, when a demand for 1 MORE THING RIGHT NOW, by the person (non-nurse) who was covering for my boss was presented to me I had just had enough :angryfire . Later that day the big wigs came to visit me. I'm too old for this silliness and too old to run crazy like a chicken------for what------so I stood up for my self and got disciplined :rolleyes: It's not the working with the patients so much as it is dealing with the uppers, lowers, and the alongsides!!!!! my core group of alongsides are great, but also fed up.

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