Med surg psych unit?

[cherryblossom2108]

Hello! I'm currently a new grad that got hired in a med surg/psych unit. I just wanted to ask if anyone if they've worked in a similar unit and what your experience was like? How was your daily routines? And do you have any tips for a new grad? Thank you!

[annonymouse]

Hi. I worked in a county hospital once which was also a level 1 behavioral center. Got floated to the psych unit often. But our med-surg pt. populace was often folks who were psych patients with acute medical issues. I would imagine this is the populace you would expect? So I would think you would have ongoing psych therapies as well as your regular med-surg work. Will there be psych specialists available at all times?

For instance, in an acute inpatient rehab ( ortho, neuro, post traumatic, etc); there are PT/OT workers and then there are all the RNs and nurse assistants. RNs focusing on the medical side, but as well using the therapies with pt.s ongoing which the PT/OT's have prescribed.

It sounds really kind of interesting! I hope you get more responses as there is a definite need for this type of specialized unit! It was always a little challenging for the pt.s who were not psyciatrichly ( sp?) challenged to be on the same med surg unit as those who were.....IE....calm old little Ms. Jones wondering why " that strange man is naked and raving about politics in the hallways all night.....and why is that poor little old man with the long beard screaming obscenities all night while I'm trying to sleep?"......that kind of thing.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I started working nights on a psych-medical unit a few months ago. It's not all gero-psych as one might think--I've had patients as young as 18. It's about an even mix of acute and chronic medical illnesses, along with chronic psych problems. I've got the psych part down as that's my specialty. The medical part is new to me so it's been quite the learning curve. I've had to look up quite a few procedures and/or have one of the more experienced psych-med nurses walk me through things, but I'm getting there.

Don't be afraid to ask for help--you may feel silly asking, but you'll feel a lot worse if you don't ask and find that you should have.

And remember that infection (UTI and pneumonia are the big ones) is often behind a sudden onset of delirium/psychosis.