rotary

We've given 10mg Haldol and 4mg Ativan for severe agitation. On occasion, 4mg Ativan with 150mg Zuclopenthixol Acetate.

That doesn't sound correct. It's rare to hit a vessel but it DOES happen. You definitely don't want to be injecting a long acting antipsychotic into someone's blood stream.

I work in the only acute psych unit for my city. 56 patients and 10 nurses. No techs or aides. On nights it falls to 6 nurses. I think it's the perfect ratio.

It depends on the reason for restraints in the first place and what the circumstances are when they fall alseep. If they're suicidal and sleeping I'll remove and place them on close observation. If they were physically threatening others I'll loosen them but leave them on if they're sedated/sleeping during the day. At night when all the patients are in their rooms I'm more inclined to release them.

looks like they need an update soon, the site still includes current contracts that expired in 2008. Wages have changed significantly since then in some provinces.

We do not allow smoking, patients have to leave hospital property to light up and must sign a waiver to do so (i think that's unsafe). We do however have Nicotine Replacement Therapy where free gum, patches and inhalers are provided for them to use while staying in hospital.

ANY nursing skill can be re-learned. The majority of our time as students was spent in the class room, not working full time in heavy medical units becoming expert nurses in everything, so I really don't understand the worry that new grads have regarding this (and I'm a new grad myself). If you go to psych and decide to switch off to something with more physical skills required down the road, you'll have absolutely no problems getting back into the swing of things. It might take a bit longer for you to be independent, but it's nothing to worry about.

Make sure you have a winter coat. Not one of Saskatchewan's nicer cities, that's for sure.

12 patients? Are you kidding? On my psych unit each RN or RPN carries a maximum of 5. Occasionally we will take an extra patient if someone calls in sick and the shift isn't filled, but that's it. Carrying as many as 12 is a dangerous load, especially when you're in acute care. How many support staff workers do you have available to help should something go wrong?

I notice a lot of gay men in nursing because I keep an eye out for them However I doubt there's a higher concentration of gay men in this profession compared to others. It's wrongly assumed, unfortunately.

Sorry to hear about that, but try and keep your head up. :) In the grand scheme of things, this is quite minor. As students, we're thrown into clinical and expected to know exactly how the unit operates. We need to ask a lot of questions, but sometimes we get nervous/overwhelmed and mistakes are made. In your case, it sounds as though the instructor should have talked with you guys a little more about your scope. It was a learning experience, and you've grown from it. Here's two incidents that might make you feel better. A friend of mine gave an IV med orally through a syringe. Another student I knew gave a suppository without unwrapping the foil.

Couldn't care less about bed making, just as long as it's clean. My mitered corners look like my failed attempts at wrapping christmas presents. I now go the gift bag route, thank you very much.

My L&D rotation went pretty well. I helped with a delivery at 7am my first day, did the apgar, etc. An hour later I was in the OR observing a section. In all honesty, the only problem I had the entire time was trying to maintain a fetal heart rate on an extremely obese woman. My time on the mother/baby unit wasn't as good, but still a positive experience. Luckily I had an instructor that did her best to assign me bottle feeding mothers. Another good point: I never had to show a new mom how to tickle the baby's lips with her nipple

That is scary... We remove all belongings and clothing. They can have their clothes back in 24 hours if they're voluntary, otherwise it requires a doctors order. Unsafe belongings are kept locked up, though there are certain hospital privileges the residents can earn over time.

I don't see why it would matter. Unless you're picking up casual shifts on a general surgery floor or something, those learned skills will fly out the window. We have RN's and RPN's who can't and won't start IV's; instead they'll call ICU to send an RN down and start one. If psychiatry is all you want to do, forget about med/surg.