Interested in Detox Nursing

[redred]

hello,

I am a new nurse, and began working on a telemetry floor in July 2005. I also have a degree in psych, which is my passion. I wanted to get my Med-Surg exp. first b4 I go into psych nursing. I would like to know the what are duties of a Detox nurse and what I need to do to prepare myself if I should go into this specialty of nursing ( like books, training, and certifications, etc...).

redred

[nursekelly217]

redred,

I have been a nurse in an inpatient detox for the past year. I did med-surg for 2 years prior to that. My primary function is to "safely medically detox" my clients. Within that description, we (the nurses) are responsible for assessments (from Q2 hours to Q shift depending on ct needs and medicating them based on their acute s/s withdrawal). Our med protocols are pretty open ended and leave a lot up to nurse discretion as to how the clients are medicated. We do a lot of med teaching/coordination for clients looking to move on to further tx who need medication or disease management. Lead groups on medical aspects of addiction, detox and diseases (hepatitis, HIV being big ones we see). We screen clients over the phone to determine the appropriate level of care, do admission H&P's on clients. We do not have an in-house MD (just an NP who is on-site 1-2 hours 3x/wk) so we are responsible for careful assessment and follow up with our medical director, recognizing s/s overdoses or clients who may be using other substances on the unit, tx abcesses etc.... it goes on and on. Some days are very easy and others make me want to pull my hair out. The big difference for me was getting used to the clientele and learning how to assess s/s withdrawal as opposed to manipulation, generalized anxiety, etc. I had very littler psych experience and although we are not a dual dx facility, we deal with dual pts daily. Very interesting work. Hope that helps.

Kelly

[redred]

thanx kelly

That seems very interesting, and would like to learn more about your job. Was there any special training that you had to do prior? Like learning about the methadone program, how to recognize s/s of withdrawal, the different drugs and it effects, any special training or seminars?

redred