tareija

Hi all, I am not sure if anyone will be able to give advice on this but figured I'd try asking. I am a Canadian RN with a bachelor's degree. I am a new grad (graduated April 2012). One of the things I would like to do as a nurse is travel and work i...

Hi all, I found out last week that I had miscarried my first pregnancy. I had a d & c and have been home this weekend recuperating and grieving. I'm really sad to have lost the baby. I've been off work after an injury, and am due to go back in a...

This is something we see a lot in my hospital, as we have quite a high Asian (primarily Chinese) population where I live. It seems to be a stronger belief with newer immigrants. I've never heard anyone refuse to feed the baby colostrum or voice that ...

Hi all, I am a relatively new nurse, graduated in 2012 and working at my first job since last fall. I am a RN and I work on an acute inpatient psych unit. I'm having a few challenges related to work, sorry if this is a bit disjointed. The unit I wo...

If anyone wanted an update - I found a new job a few months ago, in an entirely different area of nursing. I am totally blown away by how night and day different it is. SO DIFFERENT. My current job of course is not perfect, no job is, and of course t...

I think these types of jobs can be difficult to get. Some of the nurses I know with young kids get around this by working as casuals, or in part time positions. With casual work, you can choose which shifts you work, although there is no guaranteed i...

My friend was told that registered psychiatric nurses are not recognized or eligible for registration in Ontario. I know that they do work in hospitals in western Canada (Manitoba, Alberta, BC and Saskatchewan). As far as I can find online, those are...

I am in BC but I have colleagues from Ontario. By RPNs, do you mean Registered Psych Nurses, or Registered Practical Nurses? In BC, RPN is a registered psych nurse, and practical nurses are called LPNs (licensed practical nurse). I am pretty sure re...

I second using your union. As for applying for EI, did you work while you were in school? If so you might be eligible for EI medical benefits, which are different than regular benefits if you lose your job. You can get paid up to four months. I had ...

One thing with wearing long sleeved shirts under your scrubs, aside from infection control - do you get warm easily? I do, and there is no freaking way I'd be able to wear a long sleeve shirt under my scrubs. I find even with just wearing a short sle...

Hi all, I am currently working on my resume and could use some advice. I graduated from nursing school 2 years ago. I got a job a few months after graduation, and am now looking for another. I've only had the one nursing job so far. Nursing is my se...

Thanks all. Oh I forgot to mention one thing. I have only worked in psych since I graduated. I am applying for med surg jobs, but have no med surg work experience. I thought if I put details about my final practicum, where I did use a fair bit of me...

I haven't worked in LTC but I did my final practicum in school in LTC. The time management and assessment skills I learned have been useful. I also got a lot of experience working with geriatric dementia patients, which I think is transferable to bas...

I went in to some detail about providing reality orientation or not on your other post. I think the title of your post was "reality orientation for hallucinations/delusions". There's a lot of variables. Are you doing a clinical rotation in psych as a...

I'm not a police officer so I can't answer how they are trained to respond. I am sure I encounter people with mental illness every day on the street. They are common illnesses and the vast majority of the time, people with mental illness are not a t...

Where I work if someone has a weapon the police are called. It depends on what sort of crisis the person is having. E.g. are they feeling anxious, suicidal, angry and agitated, paranoid? Intervening earlier rather than later is helpful, if you can. ...

I would check with your clinical instructor. Delusions and hallucinations are two separate things, but sometimes they are related. For example, someone who hears what they think is God's voice talking to them, and has no insight. The experience of he...

It depends on how much insight they have. Some of my patients, especially if they've been ill previously and then improved., kind of get that their hallucinations or delusions may not be real. They are kind of testing whether or not they're real, or ...

Does anyone know if you can claim for ongoing education courses? For example, taking college continuing education courses in a nursing specialty area?

I'm in the same boat! Good luck with job hunting, I am just starting that process.

On my unit we have a group report. The oncoming nurses get together and we read out the Kardex for all the patients. This takes about half an hour , which is a bit more than 1 minute per patient. My main complaint is that some nurses don't read ever...

Well it's been some months since my last post, and really nothing has changed at work. I and several coworkers have brought concerns to management, and although they are sympathetic, the situation hasn't changed. As well, a colleague I am friendly wi...

I should also add, I don't think that becoming hardened or cynical and thus being rude or sarcastic to patients is inevitable. Some of the worst examples of that behaviour I've met are nurses who have less than five years experience. Some nurses I wo...

I think other people have asked some good questions, e.g. what kind of unit are you working on, how long have you been working as a psych nurse and/or working in this facility, etc. I have been working as a RN, in psych, for a bit over a year (I am a...

That is really wonderful to hear, and it sounds like you have a great attitude and a great work environment. I try to keep a positive attitude even though I'm one of the people who currently dislikes my job. However, the dislikes are due to some issu...