Mish56 BSN, RN

HUGE problem for us also! Can't wait to see the responses here. We end up putting an awful lot of geriatric patients on constant observation.

Holy Cow!!! Start looking for another job! I work on a 26 bed inpatient unit, normal day shift staffing is 4 nurses, 4 MHW's and one "nurses aide". The weekends we are down to 3 nurses. The MHW's help with charting, the meds are different every shift...

Here is a helpful medication brush up. NIMH - Mental Health Medications You may need to brush up on your basic psych dx, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective, bipolar disorder, major depression. If you are going to be working with duel dx, review y...

My hospital went to color coded scrubs about 5 years ago. I spent the 1st 30 years of my career wearing street clothes. I think it makes it harder for the patient to identify their assigned nurse...."I have the blond with the blue scrubs". There are...

Wait?? I'm supposed to get a break???

Wow! It is always nice to hear thank you. Hospital stays are so short these days we rarely see people actually get "well". We help stabilize from crisis, then it's on to a IOP or PHP. Thanks for taking the time to jot us a note!

Great article Thunderwolf! I am one of the nurses on my unit that actually enjoys working with people with BPD. The lack of understanding/education about this particular disorder never ceases to amaze me. Knowledge is power, both for the nurse and th...

My thoughts exactly "TOP OF THE HEAP!" (Do I hear Frank Sinatra singing?) I usually DO NOT tell people I'm a psych nurse, but it has nothing to do with "gasps", it has to do with too many hours listening to some strangers life story about themselves...

Lord, I hate this! I am a staff nurse, and intend to stay as one. I want no part of management. Here's my 2 cents. Set the rules (backed by policy of course) and apply them. Equally and firmly! Where I work our non-licensed people can get away wit...

oh and BTW, sorry for no definitive answer. I'm gonna guess CMHC

So I'm guessing you live in CT (tags of Yale and Fairfield) and as an old ass psych RN I can give you this advice. Regardless of license start school NOW! I believe Fairfield is already stating you must start a doctorate program. Both of your scho...

Sorry your preceptor is such a burn out! What a lovely intro to nursing. I've been doing acute inpatient psych for 32 years. I hate the fact that some of our patients will "never get better". For many....yes, they will have their illness the rest of...

"He is condescending, asks for help but then refuses our care and says we are incompetent." 1st I would remind this man that he is being spoken to with respect and you will except nothing less in return. 2): If he wants to dictate care, I would rem...

I can only hope you are joking! The ramifications of a hyper-sexual Bipolar? The rape or incest victim? The depressed pt. who has lost all interest...might be effecting marriage or relationship? Hello!? Ignoring a patient's sexual health or lack the...

WHAT???? Are we talking acute inpatient here? On my unit the patients are seen daily by their attending, on the weekends they are seen daily by one of our consistent building attendings, who have received a "hand off" on Friday! I have no idea at all...

Holy Cow! 20 to 1????? I work on a 26 bed adult acute care unit. On the day shift we have 4 RN's, 2-3 MHW's and 1-2 PCA's, about the same on eves, nights has 2 RN's and 2 or 3 PCA's. We pass our own meds, chart, go to team meetings, and actually us...

Sin City instead of NYC? I've never been there, but should get there one of these years. Now don't gamble all that hard earned cash away. I've always thought about travel nursing when my kids are off to school (that will be in Sept), but I'm a litt...

Oh just go to NYC! Sick people there are no different than sick people in OK...oh maybe a little more pushy. Everyone who likes urban living should live in NYC at least once! I worked at NY Cornell a few years back, LOVED IT!

Welcome to YNH! Where to live....New Haven is no different than any other city in the world. Good areas, bad areas. It has a lot to offer with the numbers of colleges around the area. Here is a city data site, where there is similar discussion, with...

You know, I got a request in the mail, and my schedule actually allows me a fair amount of free time, but I haven't gotten around to looking into it yet. Sounds like a worthy idea!

I'm not sure how any of us would become experienced, if no one ever hired someone with no experience.....I went into psych nursing right out of school, still here 31 years later. My unit just hired a new grad, she's doing the preceptor thing for 3 mo...

You've gotten some really good ideas here, sylubus done. I will try not to repeat any of the great ideas already posted. I work in acute inpatient, so that's my viewpoint. I have always wanted to train some of my newer co-workers, by having them wear...

number one: do NOT disclose your diagnosis to anyone in a position of hiring. It is absolutley against the law to discriminate against someone due to mental illness, but it happens all the time. 2). I would be willing to wager that 45% of psych nurs...

This is a State to State issue, every law is different. In CT we must have an "involuntary medication hearing" to force a patient to take meds. If they "lose" the hearing, they will be given IM meds if they refuse the prescribed po meds. For somethin...

Liz, So tomorrow's the big day!!! I wish I could tell you about my 1st day, but that would have been in June 1978, I guess it must have been unremarkable...because I don't recall it. I will tell you that what I do recall from the years between then...