SeeK

oooohhh and my husband is an ICU nurse, he said one dr. wrote in the patients chart...."if patient codes, be sure to SLOW code him, IF he makes it through the night, get chest xray"...my husband called him and said "i dont think you should of wrote this in the chart....the doctor first couldnt understand why but he must of consulted with peers because he was on the floor 15 min later and re-wrote the order...thankfully for his sake his had been the only order on that page so he could just throw it away

i once wrote in a paranoid schizo's chart that had a BS on the lower side...."offered patient a snake"....of course you know i meant snack and even after i drew my line through it you could tell what it said and i was teased for awhile....lol

this is how our unit is staffed and according to accuity it can change, we just have to say something.... adult psych- 20 beds, 2 nurses, 2 techs, split in half evenly all the way down to 10 beds filled, then it is 2 nurses and 1 tech (it has only gotten this low a couple of times around holidays and shoots back up in numbers usually in 1 or 2 days) at night 0 techs gero unit- 15 beds, ALWAYS 2 nurses (RNs) even if the census got as low as 2 patients (this has happened, last year at christmas), 1 tech untill we get 11 patients then 2 techs...our average is 10 patients at all times...that means 5 patients a piece...at night they get a tech if over 9 pts... i see that this was posted awhile ago...has it got any better????

i wanted to add...the reasons we do not have patients with IVs, trachs, feeding tubes, ect...is for safety...other patients may go into the other patients room and mess with the equipment, suicidal patients may use the equipment on them selves (cords and tubing) or can harm the patient that has the equipment going...i have a patient on my unit right now that def. would...he is delusional, homicidal, paranoid, intrusive...ect...

i am a geriatric psych nurse on a unit in a HOSPITAL, the unit is locked and they HAVE to be medically stable...this unit is not like a nursing home at all (I have worked at a nursing home to). the patient have the same problems as 65 years and younger...bipolar, schizo, personality disorders, suicidal ideation, homicidial ideation, drug and ETOH addictions, the patients can get violent and some or most are very strong....ect...we also have patients who dealing with alzhiemers dementia, this is not the majority as some may think...i have came aross many people who think that gero is all alzhiemers and dementia, like people GROW out of there mental illnesses when they turn 65 or something! they also believe because they are old, that means they are fraile and dont have much strength...i find this not to be the case! lol...they are scared sometimes and flight or fright involves amazing strength, i once saw a 92 year old man throw a dining room table across the room to get the "demons" away!...as far as "how" medically stable- no IV's, no feeding tubes, no trachs, no indwelling catheters, no acute illnessess..... they may have chronic things such as COPD or diabetes (same as the adult unit)...since the patients are older, SOME may be incontinant and have an unsteady gait with need of assistance from a walker or wheelchair....the patients have to go through the ER and get cleared by multiple test labs and sometimes EKG, xrays, ect...our patient have to be stable enough to go to therapy groups through out the day just like on adult units..the main differences are that the therapies and activities are geared more toward the older generation....i hope this helps some....this is a very rewarding job! besides the PDs, and once thier meds are ajusted just right, most elderly pts are very grateful of your care and it is so cute to hear them praying for their nurses at night! lol...also...when patients are not able to be mentally stabilized in about a month, and are a continous danger to themselfs or others, they get sent to the state hospital...sooooo if you work in a state hospital you would get at least some medically stable patients!!! lol

our times are only m-f , 6p-7p