Roo71

During our psych studies my class had to watch archived footage of treatments carried out in mental health institutions during the early part of last century. One that was paticularly dangerous was the practice of Insulin Therapy which was used to treat mental disorders such as schizophrenia before ECT had been developed. The practice involved laying a person on a bed, blindfolding them and giving them large doses of insulin to drop their BGL's dangerously low. The patient would start to sweat and drool (hence the nick name 'wet therapy'), slip into a coma and begin to convulse thus having a similar effect to ECTs. Very disturbing to watch.

I have worked now with a particular Division two nurse (nursing aid) on several shifts, her job is to attend to her 5 or 6 patients on the 3pm to 10 pm shift, she does not give out any medications that is one job which is allocated to me. Division 2 nurses are not nursing aids. They are registered division 2 nurses who work under the direct/indirect supervision of Division 1 nurses, and are registered by the same nursing board as as Division 1 nurses. I think that Lynne is getting Div 2's confused with PCA's personal care attendents who mainly work in aged care and attend to patient care needs such as hygiene, toileting etc and basically do what nursing assistant's use to do. What do div2's in australia *DO*? Because I'm a CNA (I think it's equivalent) here in the USA and *all* of that stuff falls to me. Div 2's attend to patient care, give out meds, perform wound care, peg feeds some have a further range of specialities depending on their post education. Absolutely insane, and it can only be put down to the fact that nurse training doesn't have basic patient care, their safety & comfort emphasised in the courses. Whether or not nurses are trained in a hospital or not doesn't come into it, you can't change the system we have, but the courses lack a lot, and the clinical exposure is inadequate. I studied through Chisholm Tafe and have to say that the course content was very thorough when it came to patient care and hygiene needs. Alot of emphasis was placed on oral hygiene as well as pressure area care. Our teachers were exceptional and many had been nursing for 20+ years and had many pearls of wisdom to impart on us. The BA nursing students that i'm currently studying with get nothing like that in their training. I've worked as a Div 2 nurse for 8 years mainly in aged care (private) and rehab and I've worked with some great nurses both div 1 and 2 as well as some real shocker's. I try to put my self in the resident or patients shoes each shift and make sure they have the care that i would want for myself ie; clean sheets, the choice to shower, clean teeth, extra food/drinks if they wish etc. It comes down to caring about what you do and having good time management skills. I know of many nurses who have the same philosophy as mine towards patient care and others that should leave nursing and get a job in a factory. Its the nurse and their standards not their title that determines whether they give good patient care.