Looking for some tech advice.

Specialties Psychiatric

Published

Hello all,

I've lurked around in here(psych nursing) a bit but have never posted. I'm starting my nursing program this fall and hope that my path leads to psych nursing. For now I've applied for a position as a "Mental Health Tech" couple of psychiatric hospitals in my area as a tech and have gotten an interview for this afternoon!

I have a couple questions for you guys/gals:

What should I expect my role to be in the care of psych patients be? From what I've read on the internet, it will mostly be monitoring, perhaps taking vitals, assisting with bathing, toileting, transporting and engaging patients in various activities. Is this accurate? Is there more I should expect? or less?

I know there will most likely be some tough "What would you do in this situation?" questions. My plan on answering these is keep mine and patients' safety priority above anything. Any other tips?

Anything you guys can answer is definitely appreciated even if it's just encouragement:)

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Sounds pretty accurate. I'd phrase it as keeping my patients and my coworkers safe though. :D Good luck!

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Specializes in Psychiatry (PMHNP), Family (FNP).

Sounds about right to me too. In some settings, you may be asked to help lead groups or even lead groups independently. That's helpful experience is you can get that too!

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That sounds about right. Be prepared to do a lot of "stepping in". There are always patients that like to start stuff with other patients and staff members and you need to calm them down and keep everyone safe and calm. Don't take insults personally - you WILL be yelled at, but stay calm :)

Don't wear anything around your neck or clothes you care about. They'll probably get pulled on or damaged.

Stay out of swinging distance and be alert. Now trying to scare you, but it's something you need to think about.

I really like most of the patients I see, but the few wild ones always seem to take up most of your attention and kind of color your perception of the job...

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Specializes in Med Surg/Tele/Ortho/Psych.

I would start with asking with a job description.

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