How does a Travel nurse prove their worth on a new Psych assignment?

[xwill327, ASN, BSN, RN]

Working in psychiatry as a nurse is a challenge, to say the least. As a travel nurse, it is possible to take a new contract every 2-3 months which means 4 new employee orientations a year. Yikes! Being THE new nurse is not easy.

How To Make Teamwork a Priority

Teamwork is of the utmost importance to maintain safety. A safe unit means the day will be a good one in psych nursing . We get accustomed to our coworkers and their ways, as in any job. The goal is making your day go as smoothly as possible for you and your coworkers. You are spending forty hours a week together so this is crucial. You build a bond and a routine together. Then a new travel, temporary nurse comes in. This can be a challenging for the staff. You can also be replacing someone they enjoyed who was unfortunately fired or is even ill. This can make for a difficult transition. Even if you are just filling in because the unit is short staffed: still a challenge. You are filling gaps in the schedule but must prove yourself worthy!

How much experience?

Travel nurses are required to have 1-2 years experience in their specialty. When you arrive to this new facility, you are pretty much determined to be competent enough to function with basic training of policies and their EMR system. There’s an unspoken competitive edge due to this. You have to enter the position with the attitude of: I can handle anything you throw at me! You are firstly asked, “Where have you worked before?”, once you walk into your unit. I believe this is the staff sizing up your experience. They want to know if you are up to par with the expectations of their unit. Can you keep up with the workflow? Will you know what to do during a crisis?

How to Please Both Staff and Patients?

The second step, despite being in a new place with a new process, can you still provide patient care, with knowledge combined with compassionately? This is one of the biggest challenges. The duality of pleasing the staff and the patient seems to be a tough one. You do not want to step on the toes of the nurses you have just met. You will have to work with them for at least three months. A shaky start will not be helpful. In situations I am involved in during the first week or two I remain laid-back. I will offer advice if a situation is unfolding in front of me. Sometimes the nurse proctoring me may be unsure of what to do But I’ll still tread lightly. No one likes a know it all. Once you overcome this short period of conflict with-in, you feel more at home. You can then voice your opinions about plans of action, within crisis and even discharge plans.

Crisis?

Now this leads to managing a crisis. I remember intervening my first day of a new contract. A staff member was getting punched by a patient and luckily I was able to safely intervene and diffuse the situation. I immediately proved myself to the staff and they were happy to have me. That’s not always the case. Once you are comfortable, and one of your patients are in crisis, your skill set should really come to play at this moment. It will show the staff that you are more than just a fill in, but someone who is a skilled nurse and there to work hard. The ones who just fade into the background during a crisis because they are a travel nurse make a bad name for travelers. Don’t be that person.

Most importantly, providing the best patient care daily stands out the most in any unit. Putting the patients needs first will always help avoid a crisis. Let’s not forget that also. A jovial, warm approach succeeds all when doing psych travel nursing! Cheers.

What do you do as a psych travel nurse to make the transition smoother?