Newly hired Pysch RN intern! Any advice or tips?

[williamslm1]

I recently landed the psychiatric nursing job of my dreams, and I start in January! I have always wanted to do psychiatric nursing, and I can't wait to learn everything I can about it.

I just wanted to ask everyone on here if they had any advice that would help me during my internship? It is 6 months long, so I am confident that I'll be well trained, however I would love to hear anything that would make my transition easier.

Thank you!:)

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Congratulations! Off the top of my head since I'm in a hurry: first, start getting to know your medications because meds is of your big nursing interventions. Then brush up on therapeutic communication, as it's your other big nursing intervention. I'll post more later and I'm sure others will too :)

[Davey Do]

williamslm1:

One truth that seems to evade even some seasoned Psych Nurses is this: Mental Illness is an Illness like just about any other illness. The difference with Mental Illness is that the brain is affected. Since the brain is the seat of cognitive and emotional functions, inappropriate behaviors result. And no amount of logic or reasoning is going to curtail that.

For example, one of the symptoms of psychosis is delusional thinking. A delusion is defined as a false fixed belief inspite of evidence to the contrary. Expect the delusional Patient to continue their belief until treatment (e.g. an antipsychotic) kicks in.

So, in essence, I'm saying, "Always expect the unexpected when dealing with Psych Patients."

The same thing goes for the non-psychotic patients,too. People will use whatever resources available in order to achieve their desire. And a lot of times, their resources, or actions, can be deemed inappropriate.

Maybe I should paraphrase myself: "Always expect inappropriate behavior from someone manifesting symptoms of a Mental Illness."

But please, don't get me wrong. Some of my favorite Patients have been Schizophrenics, Alcoholics, and Addicts. The best times were when they were in some stage of Recovery from their illnesses.

Oh, there's so much, williamslm1. But that's a tidbit to get you started.

The best to you.

Dave

[lorjie]

Always keep a pair of scissors on you to quickly cut a patient down from an attempted hanging or self strangulation.