flpsychnurse

Go union. No one else takes care of nurses.

Not sure about your area, but there is research nursing to try. Like clinical trials...

I have worked at both WFH and Baptist. They both have their good and bad points as well as good and bad nurses. WFH is abit more up-to-date re: computers. Some of their management have been there way past their usefulness, and have little support for the nurse on the floor. All three hospitals are extremely short staffed, so you will be doing more and more with less and less staff. There is no such thing as any patient acuity v. staffing systems. By the numbers of warm bodies and making money. PJC has gone down hill in recent years in teaching nursing skills/courses. But you might get lucky. I have only worked with and heard from nurses who left Sacred Heart--miserable. Generally, to be a downer, nurses in Pensacola are miserable, because there are so few choices on where to work. If you are very lucky, you will have good co-workers...that's the only thing that will help you. Go to CA--they have ratios and unions. You could be a traveler.

All the responses are correct. There is a difference between "rights" and "privileges". Please read HIPPA regarding charts and your risk mgt dept has policies.This also applies to phones---cameras, pt privacy. Read and follow your hospital policies. Otherwise, if something should happen, you are liable because you did not follow policy. You guys really need a staff meeting. Inconsistnecy amongst staff on a psych unit is a killer.

I have been a "psych" nurse for 25 years. It is not going to get any better. The US has no mental health system. A great deal of admits are about money...insurance. Please, until you realize that reality and theory are 2 different things, you will be miserable in any field of nursing. Yes, medical issues should take precedence, but it is not reality. You have to have some medical training or intuition nowadays. There are few "psych only" units. Research is one possibility. Hospitals can talk all they want about patient safety etc.--but they are asking more and more from less and less staff. They are a business you know. I would try CA--they have nurse-patient ratios, and /or find a hospital that is unionized, like Kaiser.

Please get 6 months, at least ,of med-surg experience first. Psych is not "just psych" patients.You'll feel more confident. A child-adol unit can be loaded with accusations from the patients. It is a tough environment. Adult psych usually has a very acute section and a less acute section. You have to have 7th, 8th, 9th senses for psych patients. A great deal of being able to read situations and patients before they get out of hand. Depending on where you work, more and more is expected of less and less staff. Know your states' mental health laws. And realize that the US has no real mental health system. It's stabilize and get them out. Day shift is a good learning environment. Noc shift allows you less stimulation from telephones and just over-all noise and chaos, but it can be just as hectic with admissions and volatile patients, but with less staffing. Lastly, be caring. Too many people nowadays go into nursing for a paycheck only.