How do you keep a calm milieu?

[Isastorm]

Hello brave souls. I am a new grad RN who has just started working at an adult acute inpatient state psych facility. I chose psych, not the other way around, and most days I quite like it. However, yesterday I had my first nightmare shift where it felt like the place was on fire and I was in the middle trying to keep the flames at bay with nothing but a tiny little spray bottle. Needles to say having too many of those shifts will certainly cause burn out (maybe pun intended). I know there were many elements that caused the chaos, some things out of my control, but the day of utter chaos made me realize how important it is to start putting out flames before the fire is too big. Obviously this will take time to get good at, observing, assessing, intervening ..noticing which patients are escalating before they blow, but I'm wondering if any of you seasoned psych nurses have tips and tricks for keeping the unit calm and as chaos free as possible?

Thank you!

[Mandychelle79, ASN, RN]

Of course, in an Appropriately-Administered Therapeutic Way with Subsequent Objective Documentation, right Mandychelle?

Yep. Sometimes calling a bully out on their behavior is the best way to deal with said behavior and if there is one thing I can do it is cover my butt with my charting. :)

[Isastorm]

Thanks Davey Do

I'll look into the laws here. I have just moved to the state where I currently reside for this new job and admittedly am not aware of all the laws, but am quite motivated to do some research.

I'm hoping it is a felony where I am because being able to say this:

"You know- it's a felony to harm a Hospital employee." He said, "I've been in prison before. " I said, "If you hit me, you'll be going back."

would be awesome and I think for most of them it would work well

thanks for the support!

[Isastorm]

Thanks Mandychelle79

I agree with you in regards to standing up to bullies and that some of these people need some interventions which are not exactly what we normally accept as therapeutic. Management hasn't been very supportive and upper management is actually in the process of trying to get the place to be restraint free as it looks good for their Patient Centered Recovery model...which is frankly nuts with the current environment and population. I'm new...only 2 months and a new grad so I'm still trying to find my way as a RN and to gain experience. Haven;t made much of a fuss, but want to know my rights and definitely want to avoid a head injury!

thanks for your support!