DermottMcSorley

I've taken on a project on autism . Specifically I offered to teach a 1/2 to 1 hour to my fellow Nurses . I've talked to both the DON and nursing educator about this class and both were positive about this. I know the material(granting that much is not known about autism) and am fairly comfortable talking in public. With that caveat I think a talk will be more effective if I have some understanding of the questions you might have. So bring on your questions.

It happens more than you would think. Friends on FB with a young woman who uses a tablet to speak,also have met her in real life,she's quite real . It happens. Take any IQ estimates on the Autistic spectrum with a grain of salt.

Seems a valid point. Maybe someone had to write a brochure or something on a report. The point is that do the Md's etc have to do this seems spot on.

Psych nurse for many years. prior to this I did med surg,telemetry,transplant and several other things. As a psych nurse I still do occasional post op care,wound dressings,foot care etc. I don't assume chest pain is all in the head. Those skills are still current for me. As others have said the assessment skills never go away, they do have a different focus at times.

Poverty in the US is bad and getting much worse. The cuts to support programs is noticable and there has been nothing to replace them. Working in psych one of my personal diagnosis has been poverty, which afflicts many of our patients. It makes everything worse.

Went through nursing school with ADD about 30 years ago. Most of the academics were relaitively easy for me,school was one of the hardest things I've done. Yes it is doable,as others have said as well. It will test your determination though.

Just a thank you. I work for the DMH here in Mass. I was talking with my sister (who also works for DMH) about the peer program that was instituted a few years ago. Put simply in psych we do our best,but we don't always understand what is going on in the patients minds. I had a thought at the time that there must be Nurses with schizophrenia out there. You are a valuable resource,not to mention a courage s person.

There are days I work much as a MHW,doing checks,doing 1-1 etc, I find it can be useful to see up close what is going on. Just sitting watching a patient can tell you much of who a patient is. I did a 1-1 on a patient a few months ago,other than telling her who I was we did not talk. Yet watching the way she moved,how she held her feet, told me much.

I'm going to suggest a different direction. Talk with your patients,learn about psychosis from them . Theory can be interesting and can be helpful at times. On the other hand I'm interested in history and am aware of the really bad ideas that passed as knowledge. That we now see the light and are right,possible but I reserve a bit of skeptism . Also read, almost any good sorce can be useful.

Minor point about language.Many people with disabilities prefer person first language,there are some exceptions, many autistic people would prefer to be called an autistic person,rather than a person with autism. Perhaps the correct answer is to ask how they would they prefer to be addressed

Been thinking about this a lot. The OP displayed courage in her post. There are many reasons for cutting and I am sure that I don't know all of them. Cutting/scarification is used for decoration,both in the west and in several 'native' cultures . It is done in some SM play. It can happen in some Autistic people as a stimming activity. Lots of reasons and to treat it as a unitary act is useless, look for the reasons,then treat if appropriate.

Thanks to the OP. Also it is a reminder to all of us to be careful what we say.I include myself in this. Our judgmental talk can Hurt.