PSYCHEE

Now that I've thought on it, OR is not a good environment for me, though I think I would really enjoy it. I have narcolepsy, and while circulating wouldn't be a problem, if I had to stand still for long periods I can have bouts of cataplexy. :/ Normally not an issue, but I'm sure OR is one of the few environments it would have an impact on. Thanks for responding though.

Hello all, I have over 3 years of experience as a psychiatric nurse, with an additional 6 months as a psych tech before graduating nursing school. I'll have my BSN in a little over a semester. I worked at a stand-alone, acute psychiatric hospital (as a float on adult/geriatric/adolescent units, charge experience) for 2 years, then the state hospital on their geriatric unit for 6 months, and now work in an acute care hospital on a geropsych floor. I love my field, but the administrative nonsense has me feeling burned out. I'd like to take a breather from psych to something like OR and see how much I miss it (or not) to try and decide on a focus for my DNP (or if I'll switch fields entirely). Anyone have any pointers at landing an OR job with no med/surge experience? Also -- we're planning on relocating to Chicago in the next 6 months. Not sure if that helps or hinders. Thank you. :)

I have 3 years and 3 months experience as a psych nurse as of this very minute (I'll be just under 4 years when I'm applying for jobs). This is NOT including the 6 months of tech experience I had prior to graduating nursing school. One of the reasons we're considering Chicago more than others (Boston, San Fran, etc) is because while the COL is definitely higher than Florida (where isn't?), it's lower than other major cities. I'm selling my house and plan to live in apartments (my boyfriend wants to teach as a professor, so for the next good while we'll be moving around a lot--no point in buying a house), so I expect to take a size downgrade in my living space, but I'd love to live in one of those luxury, high-rise lofts...

Hello all, I've read quite a few topics here about the difficulties for a new grad in Boston. I'm considering relocating from Jacksonville, FL to Chicago in about 6 months. I have three years of experience in psych (acute/crisis, long term/state hospital, and current is geropsych acute) and I will have my BSN prior to moving. I plan on getting board certified prior to moving to boost my chances. What's the job market like for someone like me? What pay range might I expect? (Also please don't try to talk me out of moving -- my partner & I hate florida weather, and we need to move to a major city for him to go to grad school.) Thank you!

That's so helpful, thank you! I got the offer on the spot and I'm accepting. :) That's all helpful information. Tuition assistance is definitely wanted and needed, and I'm very much looking forward to a flexible schedule. I don't even mind picking up shifts last minute as long as I can switch around my own schedule with relative ease! I'm very excited to start here.

Considering my long-term boyfriend just had a vasectomy and we are very, very childless, motherhood is not an obstacle I'll have to deal with soon. Or ever. =)

I'm working 5 days, 8 eight hour shifts a week. I HATE it. I used to work 8s but when I was only 32 hours at another facility (with a M/w/f and alt weekends schedule) it was tolerable. I didn't have a lot of time off, but I could frequently pick up a double one day and get off another. Here, at the state hospital, there is ZERO flexibility, and when 16s are mandated I still need to come in the next day because it's ALWAYS on a weekend and we never have any coverage sunday for me to stay home. This is dangerous. I've recently totaled my car and someone else's. I now have no way to get to work because my boyfriend is in grad school and can't always drive me. I work 7 days in a row in order to have a consistent schedule, otherwise it fluctuates and that is not possible because I have to see various doctors who have appointments out in advance up to 3 months... this has damaged my health, my finances, my mental stability, my relationships, everything. This scheduling is inhumane. But I'm off on a tangent. I've recently been to a few 12 hour shift interviews and have two more to go. I'm so desperate to get out of here that, even though the job I want "the most" is the last of my interviews, I'm VERY tempted to take whoever gives me an offer first so I can get out of here. My social life is destroyed, my grades are suffering... don't commit to 5x 8hours, ladies and gents. =( I love my actual job, but this schedule is hellish.

I'm sorry this happened to you, violent or combative patients are never easy to deal with. However, I find it AMAZING that your employer gave you ANY time off for this, let alone an entire week?! PAID?! Holy sh*t. Please don't say management doesn't care, because trust me, I have worked at a few different hospitals and seen many patient/staff injuries and I can't believe anyone gave you time off when you weren't actually injured. (Not saying that being spit on isn't scary, or gross, but you didn't sustain any wounds.) We just had an incident where a patient attacked a nurse and knocked out three of her teeth and she was back two days later... I've been choked three times, once choked to unconsciousness, hit with various objects, bit, had my hair pulled, had my arms twisted, my hands slammed in doors, etc... Granted, I've worked Psych and Geri, so this comes with the territory, but it's not like psych patients are magically immune to medical problems and psych units generally can't manage patients who are medically unstable, so SOMEONE has to take care of them... it does take a very special person to do my job, take the beating and not lash out back at the patient. That being said, if you can't stomach these kinds of situations, finding a specialty that you can abide is in order. What that is, I have no idea, because I hear stories from my nurse friends in nearly every sub specialty that they had "one of *MY* patients" the other day and how wonderful/horrible/funny it was. But surely someone else here can point you in the right direction. OB maybe? Outpatient? Edited to add: I agree that there should be specialty units for particularly difficult to manage patients, because while I feel most patients with psych issues can be at least temporarily managed on a medical floor, I've worked with levels of psychosis and dementia that need very skilled psych nurses to manage. Many of my patients at the state hospital are nearly incapable of communicating due to psychosis or dementia, AND they have medical complications. For this reason, I recently interviewed with a special med/surge unit for behavioral patients. Hopefully I get it, because I'd love to increase and freshen up my more acute medical skills while still providing care to the patients I find most interesting.

That's good to hear, thank you. I did find out in my interview that they do have 12 hour shifts, so that's good. =) I've heard that they have a hot n cold reputation, but everything I've heard from patients and nurses that I've known has been positive, so I think I would enjoy it there. The waiting begins! *crosses fingers*

Hello! I have an interview soon at Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville, FL. Anyone work here? Any information would be appreciated - pay, benefits, flexibility, tuition coverage, patient to nurse ratios, anything else you have to say? I'm experienced in the specialty I'm interviewing for (2.5 years). Any info on the hiring process/length in particular is appreciated. Thank you!

Anyone work at OPMC in Jacksonville / Orange Park, FL? I have an interview there soon and I'd like some insight on pay, benefits, patient ratios, anything you might have to say. The unit I'm interviewing for is a medical-psychiatric unit. Not their behavioral health unit, but a med unit with psych patients. Any info? One question that seems obvious that I can't seem to find -- do they have 12 or 8 hour shifts?? can anyone tell me? Thank you!

I worked at a UHS facility in FL for two years. Initially, it was very busy, and sometimes overwhelming, but the majority of the time it was manageable. After AHCA/DCF/JHACO came, administration decided they were going to mandate a ton of changes, making the workload absolutely unsafe and unbearable. They lost staff that had been there 10+ years, and now it seems positions that were coveted just sit open on indeed indefinitely.

If it's easy, you're doing it wrong... seconded, thirded... ad infinitum... Try figuring out what your patients medical issues are when they're speaking nothing but word salad and sign their name Abraham Lincoln. When they're a JSO dropoff and the Baker Act reads nothing more than "psychosis, walking in traffic". No gaurdian, no contact - his b/p is 190/90, after you got your tech to wrestle him still and get vitals... a lot of it requires an obscene amount of patience, creativity, and keen observation skills. If you're not watching closely and asking questions constantly, the deeply psychotic patient isn't going to know that they should report the muscular tension in their jaw that is the beginning sign of EPS. And sometimes when their thoughts are so disorganized they can't communicate effectively, agitation means they're missing something you should be providing -- another patient stole their dinner when no one was looking (and geodon makes most people ungodly hungry), they've got a headache from the meds. And the verbal tango with explaining a BA to the patient who was told in the ER that "it's only 72 hours" when their second opinion transitions them into an involuntary hold... I'm absolutely immune to insults. I've been called every colorful phrase in every language, tenfold. I've been choked out twice. I've had steaming hot coffee dumped over my head. I have learned not to ever wear my hair in a braid, lest I be dragged around by it like a leash. And all of this while remaining calm, collected, and friendly as can be with a smile on my face. I've known nurses in the two years I've worked psych who have lost it and thrown water in patients faces... or worse. :/ I may not be able to insert a foley, but I could learn if I tried once or twice. These are skills that take years to develop, if they ever do, if you have the resillence to develop them...

Wow! Thanks so much for answering all of my questions in such great detail. You've really given me hope in a lot of aspects. How long did you work in Cali? If need be that I need to get a job somewhere where the pay is greater for a while [and I could actually get into psych] I would definitely do it. I don't want to stay away from FL too long [does a year or two sound okay to you?], even if I do work out my schedule like yours [genius!] so I can come visit frequently. Just to clear things up, you worked in psych in California, correct? I'm confused about the whole GN/RN thing. The program I'm looking into is for strictly certified RN's. It's a GN program... good to know that they get paid, but why would a GN get paid less than an RN if a GN has more schooling/training? :0 Thank you for all of your help and advice again. :)

Yes, I suppose that's true. If I couldn't find a job in psych and it came down to it I would have to look somewhere else of course. I guess I assumed psych would be more in demand because not everyone likes to deal with the "crazies" like I do. [Not that I actually think that, most people are just afraid of mentally ill people to some extent at least.] Does anyone know how long the older nurses not retiring thing is going to last? Or is it just a wait-out-the-recovery of the economy thing?