Pediatric / youth Psych?

[CarinaBallerina]

Hello,

I'm still a student, but two of my current areas of interests are psych nursing and pediatric nursing. I'm wondering if there's anyone who works in pediatric psych? I'd be really really interested in anything you can tell me about what you do, how you feel about it, how you got the job, what experience you had prior to getting this job, if your facility hires new grads / takes preceptorship students?

Thank you so much to anyone who responds!

[NeoPediRN]

Hi Carina, I've been a per diem charge nurse in an inpatient pedi psych unit for two years now. I love it and don't think I'll ever leave. I have a great unit with excellent management and a cohesive staff. Like any unit it has its small issues and less devoted staff, but overall I feel very safe working there and know my coworkers have my back. We take up to 12 patients aged 4-17, but try not to take really aggressive patients as we do have such small, young kids on the unit. There's only one nurse on per shift and 3-4 mental health counselors depending on the census. As the charge nurse I'm responsible for staffing, med administration, communicating problems to the doctor (who isn't always on the unit, but is generally within a half hour away), overseeing the milieu and mental health counselors, assisting in de-escalation, leading restraints, dealing with crises, sending patients to the ER when needed (sometimes when they're admitted after something like an overdose they're not always completely stable and tend to have blood pressure problems or change in mental status), and many other tasks. We run a VERY strict unit, and chronically hospitalized kids are always surprised by what they can't do when they come here. We are strict with checks, don't allow ANY strings, no belts, no ipods, no bags allowed on the unit. There are lots and lots of things that we don't allow, and as a result our kids stay safe. The staff here are also extremely talented with de-escalation, and as a result our restraints are minimal. I had my psych clinical on this unit and loved it from the start...I started off there as a new grad.