PGH70

good thread... how about when we lose a patient? you know that is ONE LESS BELL to ANSWER and for us pych nurses. "Sometimes you feel like a NUT. Sometimes you are. And for all nurses We gotta get out of this place! And in memory of Johnny Paycheck- TAKE THIS JOB AND SHOVE IT!! an aging psych nurse, PGH70

thanks for your responses. Do you feel sometimes the patient is committed unnecessarily? Our ER physicians never break the committment, our psychiatrists rarely break the committment out of fear of liability. I feel this system, although created for the public safety, over runs the health care sytem with needless admissions. Do you think we, as nurses, have any power to change this.????

In Florida, all of the police, local or staties, have the power to commit a person, any age, for 72 hours in a mental facility. I am amazed by this. It can be a good thing, because they are in the trenches with the crazies on the street. I'm from PA, where only MDs or trained crisis workers, county hired, were allowed to commit. What about other states? My job is psych assessment in the ER, and I see every psych pt in the ER, on my shift, that is committed or otherwise, screening, voluntary, counseling referral, etc. All too often the committments are inappropriate, and sometimes quite stupid. Opinions?, thanks, PGH70