sav

I'm an rpn in a ltc facility...last month, i think it was, we admitted an alzheimer's res who is very violent when it comes to anything to do with personal care. from the first night we've had him, there have been staff injury incident reports made out because of him. he's ok if you leave him alone....but once you try to change his brief, wash him...basically touch him, he gets very agitated and aggressive. he came from home, was on no meds. now, all he's on is risperidone OD and ativan PRN. he's only on .5mg ativan--he started out on 1mg, but that literally knocked him out for days...but the 0.5 barely touches him! it makes him unsteady on his feet...so then we have to worry about him falling..but it doesn't make him any less violent. now, it's come to the point where pretty much all the staff is afraid of him. The only ones who aren't are the administrators...the ones at the desks who keep telling us we should be doing 1 on 1 care with him..when it can take us 6 or 7 ppl to change him! I hate using that many people, but he's strong and he's really going to hurt someone one of these days. So far he's only been violent with staff with one exception, where he struck out at (but didn't hit) another res. He's only getting changed once or twice a day....and i feel terrible for that but the HCA's just can't do anything with him without getting hurt. so far his skin hasn't broken down but i know it's only a matter of time. Any suggestions on how to better handle a res like this? or how to better get the attention of the 'head honchos' of the facility....i really feel this isn't the place he should be....he should be in a geri psych ward i think, because we just don't have the staffing to deal with him...any suggestions would be really appreciated! thanks a lot, sorry this is so long

interview went real well yesterday. the lady who interviewed me said that next week i can start coming in for paid shadowing, so i can decide whether or not i'll take the job. then i can send in my form for my temp lisence and start working once it comes in. thx for all the advice and crossed fingers! i'll let you all know how things go

Haven't posted in a while...but I graduated as a practical nurse last month. Finally got a call for an interview today, it's on thursday, and i'm scared stiff. I've only had one real interview before, for a job during highschool (which i didn't get), and I don't want to mess this one up too. Any tips, please? It's for a job at a nursing home. I haven't done anything geriatric-related for quite a while, since i was doing psych rotations from spring until the end of consolidation. Anything in particular i should brush up on? or questions i should be prepared to answer? Thanks a lot!

Love these stories..I have a few to share. I'm doing my final consolidation in a psych hosp, and most nurses on the floor have at least one story that leads them to believe the floor we work on is haunted. Once, two nurses were on either end of the ward, trying to close windows...They'd close one, go to the next, close it, and the first windows would open again by itself. Finally, they both ran out of the rooms they were in, only to discover the other nurse doing the same. Two nurses have had their hair flipped when no one was around, when they were sitting seclusion. One nurse once felt something wet drip onto her hand when sitting seclusion. She looked, was something red, she wiped it off. Looked up, nothing on ceiling..That was it A nurse (one of the one's the window thing happened to, and had her hair flipped) was doing rounds at the beginning of the shift. The shower room door was closed, but she heard shower running. She went, asked coworkers who was in shower..No one knew, didn't think anyone was. So she went to shower room, went to open door..It was locked, she could still hear shower going. She freaked a bit, thinking pt had been locked in. Unlocked door, opened it..And the shower stopped. Same nurse, was sitting seclusion, could hear the door handle of the locked solarium rattling like someone was trying to open it..Is a lever type handle, the sound was it going up and down over and over. In the morning, she went in there, she had opened the window of the staff smoking room in there to air it outm, she thought maybe the wind had done it. The window was closed when she checked. No one had closed it. Last night, same nurse and another went down to solarium, passed my male bathroom. No one in there, all pts were in bed. They got their smokes from the solarium, no more than 10, 15 secs later, walked back past male bathroom, tap was running. She had earlier turned off same tap, thinking someone had left it running. Same nurse was once doing rounds, heard someone whisper loudly "Fire!" in her ear. No one around. Last night, another nurse was in staff room alone, heard very distinct 'click click' coming from the bathroom..Few mins later, when she told us, another nurse was testing out sounds, trying to figure out what it was. The nurse who heard it said it sounded most like the door handle going up and down. That's all I can think of for now...I work again tonight, so if I get more, I'll let you all know.

Congrats! I'm glad you found something you really enjoy. When i was going through all my clinicals, i dreaded going to the hospital each shift. I would debate whether to call in sick, and was beginning to wonder if nursing was for me. My last rotation was psych; adolescent pysch, actually. i was really nervous, convinced i wouldn't be able to handle it since there is a lot of stuff in my family life that i thought would make psych nursing too much for me, emotionally. However, it's the rotation i enjoyed the most! The only one i looked forward to going to. So when time came to chose my consolidation placement, psych was my first choice. Luckily, i got it and am now working on the most acute ward (ADS; admission, diagnosis, and stabilization unit) at a psych hospital, and i'm already updating my resume to hand in, hoping to get a job there when i graduate. Anyways..lol sorry, that was kind of off topic... I wish the best for you, and take care!

Hi. I just started my psych rotation last wk (i'm an rpn student), on the adult's ward. I was really looking forward to it, but wasn't what i expected...i dunno, maybe it was partly the pts i had, but i didn't 'click' at all on the floor...from my clinical group, one of us works on the teen ward...my classmate who was there didn't like it, so i switched with her. I've always wanted to work with kids, this is as close as i'm gonna get at least while in school. however, since she didn't like it...didn't get a whole lot of good feedback, lol...and still don't know what to expect..just wondering if anyone has any tips, do's, don'ts, what to expect...lol anything u can contribute is more than i have to go on now... thx a lot.. Sav