rainbowsunsets

Thankyou for all of your replies, our unit is locked down with two sections HD and LD. We usually graduate our patients from escorted leave to unescorted leave. Your suggestions have been helpful, i think it needs to go totally smoke free in order for it to work.

Hello everyone, I am new to psych nursing and have just started in an acute adult ward. I am having a really hard time dealing with the smoke free policy that has been introduced within the hospital late last year (this is in australia). Most of our patients smoke and when told we are smoke free they become hostile, agressive and start to stalk us and constantly nag us for cigarettes. In response to this behaviour the doctors have been ordering patients to have leave outside with a nurse so that they can smoke, this is really upsetting me as i am usually pressured to take a few patients at a time and i am breathing in their smoke and come home smelling like it by the end of the day. I cant say no to not taking patients outside of the hospital as my job is to take them on leave when i can, and i legally cant stop them from smoking outside of the hospital but i am worrying about what this is doing to my health. I have told people and just been told to use nicotine patches and nicotine inhalers or give them PRN medications, these patients are usually unreasonable and dont want these things, even if they do, it does not stop them from wanting a cigarette. I am personally against smoking but my workplace is becoming increasingly unsafe, im passive smoking everyday (i try to tell them to stand away from me but often they just dont understand and follow me around whilst outside), im taking patients outside that are not ready for the high stimulus environment but are becoming agressive. I dont know what to do.............i really need advice from other people whos work places have gone smoke free and how they deal with it. I at my wits end. Thankyou

Thankyou so much for all of your posts! The hard thing is, for a day i think about one profession and then i change my mind. I know nothing will be perfect but i want to enjoy what i do. I have always been so certain i wanted to work in health up until now, i guess its what i grew up around. I am very seriously thinking of just finishing my nursing and then pursuing my a different career so that i will always have something to fall back on while i figure out what it is i want to do. However, should i do something i know will just be a back up for two years or just keep trying to find a different degree? I want to be smart about this but also happy. I dont know anything about psych nursing?? And i dont know anything about the business world, infact i dont even know what areas there are to get into? Ive always been a high achiever and wanted to be the best at what i do, i thought i would have to go to university to be that good. Do you even have to have degrees in the business world or does it just depend on what you do? I do have a lot of admiration and respect for ALL nurses as ive seen first hand what they go through.

I feel completely lost when it comes to the occupation i want. I am a 19 year old first year nursing student. I finished high school last year and jumped into a nursing degree because i thought it was safe, had been told i could make a lot of money (funny huh?), and it would help people. This whole year so far in this course has been one up hill battle, i feel like i have no interest in what im learning about, i find taking a bloody temperature so boring. My mum is a nurse, my auntie and uncle are both nurses and they seem to love their jobs. I know realise i want a job that i will have some status in, something that pays well, a job that i can work 9-5 in or near about to those times so that im able to have a life and a job where my body wont ache afterwards. I feel so stupid and i dont know what to do......this year alone has cost me $18000 which i have to pay back when i start working. I have been thinking about what i should do and i thought maybe psychology, so i went and had a meeting with the head of psychology at my uni and basically got told it was "too hard" because you have to do an honors year and they looked at my record and said because i have a mental illness which is obsessive compulsive disorder i will have a very hard time at getting through the course. Im not dumb but i only shine when i am passionate about something...........ive always thought i wanted to be in health.....i dont know now.........and maybe im just doing psychology so i can figure out myself? My mother went to a clairvoyant yesterday and she said that i was a business person... Okay, so this is all over the place but i need your advice. Im feeling like i should just put up with another two years of nursing so that i have the degree and will always have a job or i could try and pick up psychology aswell and walk out in three years will a psychology and nursing degree and then decide which one i want? However, im scared about wasting my time and money, i just want to find my passion. Please tell me what you think!