medbeach

Staffing is a big issue in the safety on psych units. I have to agree with previous posts about using common sense- some nurses seem to be frequent fliers on the workman's comp injuries. I think certain times of the day are particularly vulnerable to outbursts of violent patients. The stress energy coming from the nurse's station can affect the patients to create a violent situation. Sounds crazy, but its true- negative energy feeds the fire in some of these patients. Sometimes you get one going off and then another joins in- thats when you realize how big of a safety issue being short staffed is. Overall, I think all units should have some type of safety training, have adequate staffing, have security staff close by and be researching effective ways to reduce violence and improve safety.

Night shift highlights: Of course the newspaper! If we are not busy with admissions, I usually try to organize and clean the nursing station. (I know, OCD, right?lol) I also try to restock supplies. If there is absolutely nothing to clean, I will get caught up on my online CEUs. We talk quietly, read books or magazines. Play videos on our phones- funny ones like America's funniest videos. You have to have a sense of humor to work psych- sometimes it gets too serious and your down time should be refreshing.

Our behavioral health unit just went back to patient clothing after a few years of using scrubs. I actually think it was safer- less opportunity for patients to hide contraband- when they wore scrubs. In addition, we could prevent elopement because our patients looked different than visitors. Now, they all look the same- wearing street clothes. I don't think the policy was in effect necessarily for suicide precautions, I think just to reduce contraband. If we had patients who were extremely suicidal they were placed 1:1 observation, placed in seclusion (with 1:1), or placed in gowns- cloth or paper. No matter what, they usually got the 1:1 observation. The policy was changed back to street clothes because admin felt that it was infringing on the patients' rights to be forced to wear scrubs.

I will be enrolled in the online RN to BSN program starting in March. What classes are you going to be taking? I have been reading some of the comments on Chamberlain and its overall mixed. This will be my first semester with them. I guess no matter what the school, there will always be mixed reviews... I am looking forward to starting classes!