this is getting old

I just want to say that I am so thankful there are nurses like you who care for psych patients.

My two or three worst shifts ever involved me caring for psych patients. The absolute worst shift I ever had ended with me telling the charge nurse that if I was assigned to that patient again when I came back in that evening, I was turning around and leaving. Yes-I know this could be grounds for termination, yet I did not care. That's how bad it was.

I think it takes an amazing personality to deal with this population and I wish I did a better job at it. So, know that you are very appreciated in my opinion :)

Thank you so much and back at you! I am in awe of ICU nurses because I would absolutely wet my pants if someone attempted to give me handoff on one of your peeps.

Haha! Your very welcome! :)

The patient I was referring to in my earlier post literally made me want to tear my hair out. I had never before dealt with her personality, or should I say, personalities. She was, by far, the most difficult patient I have ever encountered to this day. And not in a physical manner; it was completely exhausting for me mentally and I called upon every therapeutic technique I'd ever learned to deal with her. For me, mental exhaustion is way worse than physical exhaustion and this patient had me feeling chewed up, spit out and then stomped on!

Although it was interesting to see the traits displayed of disorders I had only learned/read about, I don't think I would last a week as a psych nurse. So again, thank you for the job you do and do well! :)

I am a neuro/med-surg nurse who more often than not have one or two patients with psych issues. I can't even begin to understand how you are not respected as a nurse! On my floor, when we take report on patients and learn of their psych issues, we automatically know that it is going to be an eventful night. Saying that caring for psych patients is emotionally and physically draining is under an understatement. Clocking out in the morning I would feel like I had bricks sitting on my eyelids so hats off to any nurse who knows how to appropriately care for a psych patient and does it on a regular basis. The short times that I have encountered with psych patients made me wonder what it would be like to actually help that population...I know there has to be great job satisfaction in that.

I simply *CAN'T* handle psych patients. They stress me like no other. A lot of our pts have underlying psych issues (I work in a MICU, we see a lot of suicide attempts, ODs, things like that). I am with others in that my most trying shifts are with psych patients. I think psych nurses are a blessing, and I am not sure how you are able to get everything done that you need to while dealing with patient behaviors and who knows what else!

Don't let them get to you. You are valued!

Who's is saying this? I have been a psych nurse for 6 years and no one has ever said that to me. If someone did I would care less anyway. Often people who say crap like that are jealous. They are for sure totally ignorant. I don't have enough free time to worry about what people say. Use the aggression at the gym. I have found squats solve everything.

There's the thing... I could not walk into your unit and be successful, neither could you walk into mine and be successful. The same is true for most arenas of nursing... there is some overlap, for sure, but to be an expert in one area doesn't mean that one isn't still a novice in all the others.

Psych nsg is actually one of the more difficult specialties....what is more complex than disorders of the brain, with neuro, cognitive, and behavioral symptoms and signs?

If someone wants to have a real holistic practice, based on evidence, psych nursing can be that practice. What other type of nursing is there, where we need to do not just physiological and psych assessment, but a full psychosocial and neuro, as well? And then all the psych testing, AIMs and the rest. Add the serious med reactions we're looking out for, and it's actually quite a good challenge.

Now, I don't know the reason that other people's comments are getting to you. But it may have to do with a couple of things: you've been in the specialty just under 2 years, and with that timing, it could be that in these 1.5 years you learned to do the job, and are having trouble getting beyond the adequate stage?

Which, if that's the case, would be because of factor 2: the workplace. If the unit you work on isn't set up for continuous learning for employees, for premium evidence-based care, for continuous review (team) of best practices, and full of good examples (the senior psych nursing staff and techs, and the PMHNPs, Psychiatrists, Social Workers, etc), you may not feel like you're learning a lot, or even doing a lot. I was lucky, early in my practice, to work in a unit where 2 of the psychiatrists LOVED teaching nurses about the meds and about how to do psych evaluations. We provided excellent care there and everyone was constantly learning and keeping up to date.

A bad environment, one where staff tell the patients to "stop asking that over and over! I TOLD YOU!!", units where there are a lot of behavioral events, units where restraints have to be used once a week or more.....A unit where people who actually interact with the patients are shunned by the rest of the staff "for setting a bad example", where EVERY patient is labeled "border" by the nurses and techs.....where patients are treated more like they are in prison.........It will never seem like you're providing much good care if you're working in such an environment. In that case, it would not be unusual to feel defensive about one's choice of specialty, since it wouldn't feel very "special".

A bad environment makes it difficult for a new psych nurse to learn, and to practice providing good care (when no one else is).

If this is what's going on, I hope there are other psych hospitals/units nearby that are better managed and run, so you can have the opportunity to practice providing psych care at its best.