I began working as a psychologist on an inpatient acute ward about 6 months ago. We have the usual team of psychiatric nurses and students, techs, OTs, psychiatrists, doctors, etc. I work as part of a 4 person psychology team. I'm having a difficult time dealing with some of the nurses attitudes toward me and my job. I'm not sure if this is limited to the nurses I work with, or if this represents a general view.
My work involves doing various psychological assessments and seeing patients for short term therapy (as it's an acute ward, we try not to keep them longer than necessary.) I also see patients in the community, but I spend the majority of my time on the ward because of how demanding it can be.
I always make myself available to see patients, establish relationships, provide assessments and interventions when asked. I attend all the staff meetings and give input. The nurses have been saying they're very stressed out and are really struggling to deal with some of the tougher patients - some don't have much experience in terms of eating disorders, or mixed personality disorders, and have voiced concern. I offered to do staff supervision and presentations if anyone was interested - just a quick overview for any staff who felt they needed some help, which they seemed happy about and many turned up. I was also asked to be available for 1:1 sessions with nurses to offer my thoughts or another perspective on a patient, which I was happy to do.
I realize this can come across as me thinking I know better and I certainly don't - I just offered to maybe do drop-in informal sessions for anyone who felt like they needed it. I've been very careful to try and not come across that way.
I feel like I really am trying my best to fit in and help the team,but the attitude of most of the nurses toward psychology in general is disappointing. I've seen rolling eyes when I come to do an assessment ("why bother? Those pieces of paper can't tell you anything.") I've been met with sarcasm and disdain when talking about therapy options ("must be nice being a psychologist and not having to do actual work" or "they're just a PD patient, they aren't mentally ill, you wont be able to do anything.")
its discouraging, they are otherwise nice people but it's getting to me. I'm friendly, I work hard and have worked very hard to get where I am, Im here to help just like they are and I feel that I'm not taken seriously - all of the psychology team feels this way. Sort of like everyone thinks we're overpaid and that psychology is a bunch of BS really. That we sit on our asses all day typing reports, when in reality I work 12 hours per day on the ward seeing patients, attending tribunals, and even getting involved in altercations (I'm trained the same as the nurses are in restraint/breakaway techniques so I always help when there's a problem).
What gets me is that I was happy working in community, but we were literally begged to work on the ward, and now we're here and nobody wants us! They request assessments and treatment, but make fun of us in the next breath. I'm trying not to let it get to me, but after 6 months of feeling this way it's wearing me down.
is this a general consensus among all psych nurses? I've seen the same attitude leveled toward the doctors, but only behind their backs. It's a shame because I really value their input and would like to work as a team, but feel very unwanted. Is there anything I can do?
I am wondering if maybe it is your work place. In my work as an RN with psychologists, I have found that they are generally respected on the unit, although there is not a whole lot of working together. They come onto the unit for a couple of group therapy sessions, an individual session or two and occasionally family therapy, listen to nurses give report about patients during staff meetings, and they are gone.
I am wondering if maybe it is your work place. In my work as an RN with psychologists, I have found that they are generally respected on the unit, although there is not a whole lot of working together. They come onto the unit for a couple of group therapy sessions, an individual session or two and occasionally family therapy, listen to nurses give report about patients during staff meetings, and they are gone.
I agree. From the group homes I worked in prior to being a nurse, then the floors and the the clinic and now the school setting, the psychologists have always felt approachable.
I am a mental health nurse in inpatient settings. I think psychologists shld just come and work with the patients end of.Leave nurses alone. I agree Nurses do feel patronised if that's the word by pple who only spent 2hrs with the patients in 5 days and then turn up and get involved in all meetings and make major decisions in the patient journey like they are there with them full time. Nurses spent 24hrs, 7 days in week .
Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.
I think psychologists can be helpful to pts and nurses as long as they are very good at knowing how to effectively support pts and nurses.
At my prior place of employment, psychologists were not employed as regular floor staff. Rather, one was a admin for each unit. In this role, they taught a few CBT groups and served as admin for the staff on the unit.
I do recall that one of the psychologists was often made fun of by the staff because she catered to the pts who were acting out, rather than set limits.
My own personal view is that a good psychologist is worth her weight in gold and the not so good ones aren't helpful to me at all.
Are they helpful to the patients? Not stirring the pot vintage mother.
I don't know if a psychologist's main goal is to be helpful for the nurses. And yea, there are crap people in every profession. I worked with a pure paperwork psychologist in the group home who would sit in the same spot and write even when there was chaos and acting out all around him.
Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.
Are they helpful to the patients? Not stirring the pot vintage mother.
I don't know if a psychologist's main goal is to be helpful for the nurses. And yea, there are crap people in every profession. I worked with a pure paperwork psychologist in the group home who would sit in the same spot and write even when there was chaos and acting out all around him.
Hey Far! 🙂
I think I understand what you're getting at, I think you're saying that a psychologists main goal may not be to be helpful to nurses and rather, it's to be helpful to pts recovery.
My belief (albeit cheesy) is that, ideally, each of the different specialties (nurses, MDs, social workers, psychologists, nurses, etc) would all work together as part of a team that helps eachother while helping the pts.
I think it's beneficial if we can all be on the same page and help eachother and the pts.
One way a psychologist on staff helped me was my first day as charge nurse on a neighboring unit. While I'd worked as charge on another unit, this was my first day as charge on this particular unit. I had 4 admissions and 2 nurses in training! No experienced nurses at all. The psychologist checked on me often (providing positive feedback) and helped me work with the on call doctors who were making my job a little more difficult than it needed to be. The MD wasn't doing it intentionally, she just wasn't well versed in the way out unit operated/didn't know the regs for our particular unit.
I worked a lot more closely with psychiatrists and our medical director than I did with the psychologists. I can say that they were very helpful, as they listened to our nursing assessments and suggestions.
I hope this clarifies!
But if it doesn't, I blame it on nursing school brain! I start my last semester of RN school tomorrow and have already been assigned homework. [emoji38]
I don't know why you would get rude comments from nurses. I would love it if there was a psychologist available, because I need one. hah. Jokes aside, I'd be happy if there was one readily available to the patients.
I can't tell you how many times a patient or family will ask for individual therapy and I have to tell them tomorrow or do group therapies just because I don't have any available for my shift and we don't have any on site regularly. I feel bad because they're inpatient hospitalization and it's still difficult to get therapy! I try to talk to them if I have time but I'm not trained in the art of it but a lot of the times patients also want to talk to someone they know who is specialized to do the therapy, not a psych nurse.
Group therapy is not the same and not for everyone and the group therapists themselves don't do individual therapy there.
Maybe it is your work environment. I don't see any legitimate reason to look down on you based on the information you provided. You seem like someone that wants to help.
I've worked with a number of psychologists in my career. Some were pompous butt holes and were convinced that they knew it all. Their personalities left a lot to be desired, which made me wonder if they went into the field to attempt to solve their own dysfunctions.
On the other hand, I've worked with some amazing psychologists who were there to help and work concurrently with the staff, being careful not to step on toes, with the sole intent to help the patient find their way again. Accepting feedback and jumping in when help was needed. Meaning they didn't disappear when a situation became violent.
From your post, I assume you are amongst the latter. (At least I hope so!) Perhaps you are trying too hard and the staff needs to feel you out to see if your intentions are real and trustworthy.
Farawyn
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