How was your Psych rotation?

Nursing Students General Students

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Im really excited for mine! The first 5 weeks is Psych for me (2 days a week).

The facility that I'll be at consists of all convicted felons who got off on insanity charges. That kind of freaks me out, but Im still excited nonetheless. And the best part is that we dont have to wear our uniforms for this rotation, just casual/professional dress. YAY! lol

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My school is on an integrated curriculum and our psych is broken up over several different semesters. In our second semester, we went to an inpatient acute psych facility and a children's psych unit. I absolutely HATED child psych, it broke my heart because most of them were fairly stable but their conditions were exacerbated by their parents' lack of attentiveness. The adult portion was amazing, we did interviews with the patients to find out more about their conditions, worked with art therapy, exercise therapy, and special group therapies, and help our patients talk through things with their conditions that were bothering them. In our third semester, we're going to the state mental health hospital, i'm pretty excited about that because they tend to be more long-term patients have have more complicated issues.

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mine was pretty boring to be honest. we were at a veteran's hospital..so a lot of PTSD, schizophrenia, bipolar, etc. but mostly PTSD. and most of our patients were men so there wasn't much of a variety. i only spent 2 days on the floor though due to bad weather. can't say i was sad about that though, psych was something i was not looking forward to haha but to each their own! :)

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I absolutely loved my Psych rotation! To be honest, I was absolutely petrified when I first started because I had know idea what I would be dealing with in clinical, but my first couple of times on the units totally put me at ease. The hospital that I did my clinical at had 3 different psych units...adult, adult intensive, and adolescent. Of course, my favorite was the adolescent unit. We didn't do much patient care except basics like vitals and once my fellow classmate and I gave a wheelchair bound client a bed bath because he needed it greatly( both my classmate and I were very nervous at first because he was on the intensive unit and had no idea what we were about to encounter, but he actually was a very nice guy!) I learned a lot from this class and have given thought to it being a possible area to work in once I graduate.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Flight.

didnt care for it. I did get to visit a jail.and bit my fingernails down to the bone waiting to leave. lol.

I did get to spend 8 weeks at a detox unit which i LOVED...def. wished we did it for teh full 16weeks.

Psych isnt for everyone..

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Specializes in LTC.

I don't look forward to my psych rotation. I too heard it can be very boring. All we are really required to do is talk to the patient and do an IPR on the conversation.

Psych is not my thing, but I will hopefully survive it.

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Specializes in Emergency.

I'm doing mine right now at an acute facility. Initially I was not looking forward to it. Honestly, it's a lot of fun up until lunch. Then the rest of the day DRAAAAAGS. For me, there's only so much you can talk about in 12 hours.

When they're properly medicated, they're all great to talk to. It's fascinating learning about their disease processes. Ask them about what they see, what they hear and what the voices tell them. Just always keep your back to the wall and don't get caught in a corner (just in case!)

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My psych rotation was rather boring. I was at a self-pay private hospital....everyone there had a lot of money or their parents had a lot of money. I was on the professionals in crisis unit, and I mostly saw people who had anxiety, depression or alcoholism. All the patients were middle to older aged, fairly established in life (saw lots of lawyers, doctors, teachers, therapists, etc) and I felt that they didn't really want to talk a lil ole student nurse like me.

Sitting in rounds was more interesting as you go to see the patient interact with their team and update them on their progress. The group therapies (such as DBT) that I attended reminded me a lot of lectures in my psych class.

I think I would have enjoyed it more had I been in a more acute unit, but I didn't care for my rotation at all.

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Specializes in ICU.

Good luck in the psych rotation, mine was a little crazy. I never got physically harmed, but I was one of the lucky ones. Two of my classmates got punched in the face, one stabbed in the stomach, and one was held at knifepoint until the patient let her go. And that's just the students, there were several other incidents that had to do with the nurses and techs that we were not allowed to speak of. Just a suggestion, go to an armory store and purchase a bulletproof vest to protect against stabbings.

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Good luck in the psych rotation, mine was a little crazy. I never got physically harmed, but I was one of the lucky ones. Two of my classmates got punched in the face, one stabbed in the stomach, and one was held at knifepoint until the patient let her go. And that's just the students, there were several other incidents that had to do with the nurses and techs that we were not allowed to speak of. Just a suggestion, go to an armory store and purchase a bulletproof vest to protect against stabbings.

Why are you trying to scare people?

My mom has been working psych. for over 15 years - she's never been punched, slapped or physically threatened in any way. I'm starting my psych. clinical in a week and, due to my mother's experience, I'm not afraid of the patients at all - I'm more afraid of my clinical instructor.

Granted - the place that you worked at may have been jacked up but recognize that it is and also recognize that your experience with psych. was the exception to the rule.

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Good luck in the psych rotation, mine was a little crazy. I never got physically harmed, but I was one of the lucky ones. Two of my classmates got punched in the face, one stabbed in the stomach, and one was held at knifepoint until the patient let her go. And that's just the students, there were several other incidents that had to do with the nurses and techs that we were not allowed to speak of. Just a suggestion, go to an armory store and purchase a bulletproof vest to protect against stabbings.

WOW!!!

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I will have my Psych rotation this semester. Honestly...I keep having visions of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Girl Interrupted. LORD...let my vision be wrong! We have the option of where we are going and what patient type we would prefer to work with (Adolescence versus Adults); my study group and I are leaning more towards the adults.

Girl Interrupted

[/YOUTUBE]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il-uzEdChuM&feature=fvwrel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNQkAohXhl0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAT47Ty0F6w&feature=related

[YOUTUBE]

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRuTiExSOdY

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