Carrie RN

I work corrections. I never say, "Gee there are no sick call sheets today." The whole box will fill before I can get back to the medical room.

I came to mental health nursing late in my career. It has become a true calling for me. I changed over to corrections, and I find that community mental health is grossly insufficient in my state. Go "us" for continuing to meet the challenge.

Dear Esme, I hope you have a speedy recovery. Please know that I am thinking and praying for you.

This is rural America talk. In some rural areas there are plenty of nurses as well.

I can't swing a dead cat around without hitting another nurse.

Nursing was harder than becoming a social worker.

When I was young, I would have said I am a nurse because I like to help people. Please don't be a nurse for the money. There are things I do that no amount of money would be worth it. I currently am in mental health/corrections. I really do like it, but it is a departure from where I started. As a nurse I have seen the best and worst of humanity.

This sounds like management does not want to pay the nurses overtime like they deserve.

I started correctional nursing last year and love it! I never have the same day twice. The ability to assess and triage are key.

Then staying in your current position was the right choice. Keep on trucking.

You will need to find out what the state regulations are governing ALF/RCF. In the state where I am; the residents had the same rights to refuse to comply with doctor orders, but it comes back on you if they are not compliant. Generally, you will be training employees, writing service plans, and triaging medical problems. You may end up on call 24/7 which is the norm in these facilities. In the facility where I worked (several years ago) the management pushed to fill beds regardless if the person was stable to be in a facility without nurses on premises. The people working as aides and passing medications were all trained by me. (This was good as I could train to my standards, and have taught BON approved CNA and CMA classes. There were people that had been admitted with PICC lines, G-tubes, unstable insulin dependent diabetics, and complex wounds requiring hyperbaric treatment. So it can be a fun job.

Generally, in psych nurses become certified in ProAct or CPI. So this is to say deescalation of a situation is the priority and then protecting yourself if the patient becomes violent. I don't know what the law is in New Zealand. Here in the states, the patient threw the first punch so I would hope that the nurse would have a legal case against the patient AND that the BON would also have that nurse's back.

The definition of strong nurse should never include bullying. A strong nurse has experience, great critical thinking, good skills, and documents appropriately. I think this thread is going off course. I have had MANY shifts where I did not eat, drink, go to the bathroom, or even sit due to the health of my patients. If everyone coming into nursing thought this was an easy job, go find somewhere else to work.

It does sound sufficient. Take good notes.

Actually many HR departments know their counterparts at other hospitals. They use tone of voice to relay a problem when saying available for rehire or not. Try to use people in the hospital that are still there as references. I had an HR person not like me as a department head. I was lucky that the CEO was a reference for me. Don't let it get you down. Karma comes around.