You guys might want to give the Operator Tactical Pants by LA Police Gear a shot. They are like 5.11 tactical pants, but they have more pockets and fit better (for me anyway). They are also cheaper, and the company also makes polo style shirts with a pen pocket on the left sleeve. They are great.
On our unit the the basic patient care issues are tended to by the psych techs. Our nurses spend most of their time talking with the patients, charting, and passing meds. The nurses are also responsible for doing groups with the patients, taking referrals, processing new admits etc. Our facility is a 32 bed crisis unit that is part of small town hospital.
I work as a psych tech on a 32 bed acute care unit attached to a small hospital. We generally have 2 nurses and 4 techs on the night shift. I have worked nights when a code was called and nobody from outside the unit responded. The police will no respond either because they are not allowed to bring firearms onto the unit. We usually do ok, but some nights the patients and the staff do not feel safe.