RN4it

I have to be honest here and maybe this isn't the most professional thing but more of a human thing. Our job is super stressful no matter what kind of nursing we are doing and just like we are on this website comparing notes. Perhaps I'm wrong but when I do report, I like to vent (just a little) and also I like to paint a clear picture for the oncoming shift. The person (me)giving report is leaving after 12 hours. The oncoming staff is going to be there 12 hours regardless.

I work in a behavioral health facility caring for adolescent patients. Many times we will get patients on the unit whose parents are not in favor of medication and this has never been such a pressing issue. The psychiatrists will usually talk to the parents and come up with a reasonable treatment plan where all parties are satisfied, but today I had a psychiatrist push the issue of hot-lining a parent to Children's Division for refusing to allow us to start medication on a 13 year old patient. I did not feel that the matter was neglect on the parent's end because the doctor never spoke to the parent about the medications that were to be started. Only myself and a case manager had spoke with the parent. The psychiatrist asked the case manager to hotline the matter and she agreed to hot-line the situation. I feel that something is wrong with this not only because the psychiatrist never reached out to educate the parent for his rational, but because I feel like he is trying to bully the parent into starting medications. The psychiatrist even hung up on me when I asked him if he spoke to the parent. He told me that that was irrelevant. My supervisor is aware of the situation. What more can I do? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I have been a psych nurse for five years working with the adolescent population mostly. My best friend from medical got pulled to work on my behavioral health unit and she shot me a text saying, "You got to be crazy to work here."/"I don't like this." I do get what people are saying but I think they mean it figuratively. I would have to say that it takes a certain personality to stay in the psych field for long. You have to have a different type of thick skin than you have for medical floor. It's definitely a job for people who are "emotionally strong, brave, and witty". Depending on the population that you are caring for, it can be an extremely dangerous job and you must understand the best way to deescalate these patients to keep them from harming themselves or others.

Of course follow up with a glucose reading shortly after. Diabetes is frustrating for both nurse and patient. Trust me.

This is coming from a nurse with Type 1 Diabetes. I've had diabetes since I was 9 years old and my specialist when I was a child was pretty extreme. He told my parents that high blood sugar was no reason to stay home from school or get special treatment. Now I feel like crap when my blood sugar is high and I felt like crap as a kid but I also learned not to use my diabetes as an escape from responsibility. As an adult, if my blood sugar gets out of whack, I take insulin and I feel better within an hour on Humalog and of course depending on how high it spikes or if DKA takes affect, it may take longer to resolve. I am no doctor but I have Type 1 Diabetes and I have been an adolescent psych nurse for over 5 years. I would recommend giving an appropriate insulin dose to control hyperglycemia and then sending the child to class (doctor approval of course). This way the child will not purposely induce hyperglycemia to get out of class.

Kind of scary that someone with your credentials would jump to such conclusions.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Yeah, it's actually due next Sunday 2/5 and I am working overtime this week. I was thinking ahead in case I wasn't able to meet with someone in person. I don't like to bother people at work. Sorry for bothering you on the blog.

I am in desperate need to contact a community health nurse who can answer some questions for me for a short paper that I need to write for my RN-BSN program. I have plenty of access to hospital nurses, but I need to interview a nurse who works at a school, clinic, or health department. If anyone can help, I'd really appreciate it if you could answer these questions for me. No need to include you full name or exact place of employment. Name of nurse interviewed: Occupation: Place of employment: Interview Outline 1. Describe your work as a community based nurse. 2. Describe your education and experience in preparation for assuming this position. 3. What do you like most about the position? Least? 4. Describe a legal issue of concern to you in your practice? 5. Describe an ethical issue of concern to you in your practice? 6. How do you keep up with current nursing practices? 7. Do you utilize standards in your practice? If so, from what source and can you provide examples? Any other comments? Thanks so much in advance!