Birdie RN

I aspirated blood on the VERY First IM injection I ever gave! It made quite an impression on me! The medication was Haldol.I have aspirated all Im injections ever since.

Retired Army. Now is contract worker for the army- does a lot of the same stuff but no PT or moving every few years. YEA!

I hope you are feeling better soon. I am so glad you are pressing charges. I have been in a similar situation in the past and after reading this post I feel much better about the decisions I made at the time. Thankyou for posting this Take very good care of yourself and do continue to follow up.

Trazodone for sleep is real common order. Klonopin, ativan prn anxiety. Almost never benadryl but I work in oupatient setting.

I have cried many times at work. Nobody really recalls it very much but me.I am sorry to hear of your bad day. It is ok to learn form it move on and not beat yourself up about it.

I recently appyled for and sadly did not get a paid postion at a local Methodist church. It was a postion with the Southwest Healthcare Ministry Wesley Nurse program. The church also had a soup kitchen so the nurse serves those that come to the kitchen as well as church members. It was a panel interveiw-a doctor 2 nurses and lay persons from the church. So those positions are out there, finding and getting one are not easy. Some examples of questions I was asked are " Define holism,religion and spirituality" and "List the causes of poverty" I am glad I tried. I found out about the job in local newspaper classified ad. I hope this information helps .

I had this buddy of mine, good friend and old high school sweet heart that had testicular cancer. I was newly married and had moved to Texas but he and I kept in touch. Christmas was 2 days away and it was to be my husband and I first Christmas together. Then a mutual friend called me after searching high and low for me - my buddy was asking for me. My buddy was in Virginia. I knew I had to go and I wanted to take my husband with me but the price of the plane ticket was too much for both of us to go. I thought about putting it off maby a week or two so the airfare would be lower, but someting in my gut said go. My husband was so understanding. I went to be with him and his family and he passed just after Christmas. He knew, and I am posative he waited for me to get there. I am glad I listened.

So glad to be of help ! Thankyou for taking care of yourself, best of luck and please let me know how it goes !

I forgot how spoiled I am. I have worked a lot of places- my hubby is retired Army- and yes I have worked with some of those that choose their words poorly ! These days I work with an older doctor that will help me carry charts if he sees I am tring to make it down the hall with a big pile. So polite and so kind it blows my hair back!

Please tell your friend to take heart. It took a 10 days- yes really 10 days for my milk to come in. I too pumped every 3 hours and gave supplemental formula to my kiddo. The pediatrian was very supportive of me in my case I was so ready to give up, but she would not let me and I eventully breast fed exclusively.

I have been a psch nurse for 5 years now, before that worked in a state school for folks with MR before, and prior to that med surg. For 2 years now I have worked in a community out patient clinic. I am scheduled 22 pt to see daily - not all of them show up because of the nature of the disease process- I usually wind up seeing 12-15. Some come to the clinic weekly, q 2 weeks q 3 weeks or monthly depending on their status. Pt come to see the doctor at least q 3 months or prn. PT may come in for quick status check and prepare one weeks medications, have a crisis, and lots of haldol or prolixin dec injections. ON a routine monthly visit a mental status exam is completed,I always ask pt how they take their medications- if they can't recall chances are they are not taking their meds, aims completed prn, VS and weight prn, I prepare lab work papers and teach lab instructions Always teaching q visit- usually pt has questions. If pt has psychosocial issues (no food, wants counsleing) I call the Case Manager I also take down information for next doctor visit- what medications they are taking other than ours allergies, ect-usual clinic nurse responsiblitys. I am also the infection control nurse Our clinic has 500-600 pts that are seen here monthly. I work with an LVN and have only one doctor at this time. Bear in mind I do live in rual wext Texas.I am an ADN they would have had a BSN for the job but apparently the expreneces I had helped. This job is a real adventure and I like the autonomy!

I recall maby 5-6 males and females lactate while taking risperdal. The doctor usually just changes their medication. I don't know about prolactin levels. most of those I recall were when I woked in state school setting (MR)

That one year med-surg exprience has helped me- trust me -I only did one year and really hated it, I am glad I did. I wish I could of done more but iIthink I would have required hospitalization myself if I had!

Still use thorazine pills quite a bit out here, no liquid on my outpaitent clinic.I give many and pleanty prolixin dec injections here also, I have no trouble ordering them either. We still use many old gen as well as the new stuff here in west Texas.

HA HA HA giggle snort lol! thankyou for that too funny! lol!

Just my observations- I am no doctor - but I work in a mental health opc - that both zoloft and paxil are real helpful for depression and anxiety. Wellbutrin can wosen anxiety I have noticed. paxil does have a disontinuation syndorome that I have noticed in some folks, of course there is always that nasty weight gain side effect. Effexorxr is fine, too but I don't know how helpful it is for anxiety symptoms- May not be so good for you if you have HTN or heart disease. One note of caution: some antidepressants can REALLY bring out a manic episode in someone with a bipolar diease process! Don't get me wrong, I love our primary doctors, but I feel strongly that most people really need to see a psychiatrist. Don't forget to wear your hat and wear sunsreen when on these medications:)!

Thankyou for taking good care of yourself. Good luck and GOD bless.

I rather enjoy student nurses, I am communtity mental health nurse with a VERY small office and well, I get to be close to the student no matter what. I even have a packet of information I give to students explaining DSM IV, GAF, some sample patient teaching materials, list of common medications and our clinic orders for labwork, AIMs assessments. I hope they get some good information, I don't recall my psych. rotation being very helpful in school at all. lol!

I have found in my experiences as a community mental health nurse that many non narcotic medications have street value and potental for abuse for example , cogentin. Many of my clients will freely admit to taking excssive amounts of OTC benadryl because they tell me it helps them relax and sleep- how dangerous is that, yes? I am not at all surprised that you may have LOTS of requests for that medication.:stone

I have decided not to take a job I was considering as a Psych Case Manager. Too many weekends! Clinic work has spoiled me! I am a bit of a loner at my clinic also, I do not deal with other nurses very often at all. But I need those weekends, I could not be on call as much as they wanted as I go out of town often on weekend to help out my mother-in-law, she is a recent widow and does not know how to drive a car. The expectation of wearing a unifrom (scrubs) while visiting in the home instantly turned me off- this is a small town, many of their clinents have been mine in the past- one does not want to walk or drive where they live looking like someone who might have drugs. This is a company new to this area- I am not sure they are going to make it- but thankyou so much for replying- there are very few nurses that deal only in psych. I have for about 6 years and was a mental health tech prior to being a nurse. Birdie

The clinic I work at is considered by the state to be rural. It does not seem so to me- the population here is about one hundred thousand. We have two medical hopitals. We see about 500 patients monthly at my clinc. With one RN and one LVN and two partime doctors this is an adventure! I guess I don't have much time wonder if we are rural! (Ha-ha!)

Hi I am looking for someone who may have worked in Psych Home Health at some time. I currently work at a Mental Health Outpatient Clinic in San Angelo, Texas. I am considering applying for a job as an Psych Case Manager at a Home Health Agency that has been open in this area for several months. I have few peers as this town is so small and psych home health has previously not been here as an option before this. Thankyou for your time