Is psych nursing usually this eventful?

[golson]

BH patient was given a syringe by a visitor that he later filled up with his own blood and sprayed that blood at nurses in an escape attempt. He briefly held a visitor against their will.

Man, 20, Accused Of Squirting His Blood On Nurses At Mercy Hospital « CBS Minnesota

Just a few months ago, on the same floor, a BH patient managed to set off the fire sprinklers, flooding that floor as well as those below, leading to an evacuation of the ICU.

Patient Accused of Breaking Sprinkler Head, Leading to Flood at Mercy Hospital | KSTP TV - Minneapolis and St. Paul

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

Thankfully, no very uncommon.

I'm glad I don't work there. They're probably going to be facing a full public health/CMS survey, if they haven't already.

[Anonymous1257]

It depends, in a psych ICU or psych ER, this seems par for the course. In pretty much all other psych environments this is very uncommon.

I spent a month full-time in a psych ICU at the end of nursing school and saw some crazy stuff! They were good about body checks prior to admission so fortunately no syringes made into into the floor, but we had a patient break the nurses' station glass with his elbow and try to get in, another ripped an exit sign out of the roof and attempted to use it as a weapon, one patient incited a small revolt with a 300lb brain damaged individual and others that we had to get police intervention to get under control. A number of other wild, but less severe/threatening behaviors also occurred.

Psych ICU is a wild place, and things that are discussed in the OP certainly do happen!

[Safety Coach RN]

It's a loaded question but yes, except you need a key to set off the fire alarm on our units.

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

I was shot in the face with a chemical fire extinguisher once, but that is about the most excitement I have had on a mental health unit. I was reporting off to the oncoming shift and suddenly I heard an emergency code paged overhead - for my own unit. I opened the door to see what was going on and bam! The patient had been spraying it all over the unit, and discharge from the extinguisher set off the fire alarm. People from other units, believing that we might have a fire, showed up with fire extinguishers. "Thank you all for responding, but we have one too many of those in here already", I told them.

A patient once tried to steal my unit keys to escape the unit, but they were on a coiled plastic tether attached to my belt loop so this didn't go very far.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

OP, what you describe is the exception and not the norm. Psych nursing can be very lively, but usually not THAT lively.

[SarahMaria, MSN, RN]

Yes, I have had patients set off the sprinklers before. Escape. It seems pretty standard for psych.

[Davey Do]

[Davey Do]

[Davey Do]

[WCSU1987]

Well I heard war stories of the poop and pee under the door then POP it hit's you as you open the door. The Poop Chucks socks filled with poops. Had toilet's overflowed had to replace the floor once. Some other stuff, but nothing like that.

[Davey Do]

Poop