margarita

Do I get burnt out? Sometimes. But it doesn't last. They talked alot about burnout way back in nursing school and what you need to do to avoid burnout. For me, the 12 hour shifts are the way to go. You then have plenty of days off to recoup and relax. For sure, the most burned out people in our system are the ones who work Mon-Fri. 2 days off isn't enough. I have worked at the same acute psych unit for 20 years next month, In that time I took a year leave of absence after 16 years to go and do some things I'd always wanted to do, like a ski season in New Zealand. Avoiding burn out in any job is done by treating yourself good and having a full and meaningful life away from work. I live on a ski hill which is only a 30 minute drive to work. ALthough many think I live so far away, I believe it is healthy in that it separates my work from my home. Not to mention that it is a very fun place to live. I forget that I have a job sometimes! I am fortunate in that I work with awesome colleagues, many of who have been here as long or longer than me. We are a very cohesive team and that too avoids burnout. In my job, it is the politics that get me down as opposed to direct pt. care. I have to stop at times and get refocused and not let those things get to me. We have Dr. issues but I believe that things will improve. I am here for the long haul. Burn out can happen in any nursing setting. If you truly love psych, then go for it!

My favorite population to work with is the schizophrenics. My first job in psych nursing was at a 20 bed residential facility. The majority of residents were schizophrenics. I find them to be very genuine and easy to establish rapport. If you treat them with respect, they will like you. I find there is a minimal amount of game playing as with some other dx, such as personality disorders. I also have a huge amount of compassion for those who have to live with this illness.

I work on an acute inpatient unit. I live in B.C. Canada. On our unit we use the DSM-IV extensively and are expected to know the diagnostic criteria for the various disorders and to come up with a diagnosis for our pts. The Dr. does the definative Dx, and we will have a provisional Dx prior to interviewig the pt., but we do come up with a Dx based on the target symtoms. Some pts. are very straight forward as to what their Dx is. The other more complicated presentations require team discussion and dissecting the symtoms til you come up with a workable diagnosis. Our Team Leader is brilliant and a great resource for us as we become comfortable with this universal Manual. It is not considered out of our scope of practise to figure out what a pts. Dx is. If the nurse who posted the original post, as a fairly new grad doesn't feel comfortalbe with coming up with a Dx then they should be provided with suppport and learning opportunites to acqurie this skill. To me it seems a given that you would be able to diagnose your patient. You need to know what you are treating. We have the knowledge, why wouldn't we use it? Cheers and happy reading! (DSM-IV)

I am also a RPN from Canada and looked into psychiatric nursing in Hawaii. The problem is that RPN's are not recognized in the US. With my 20 + years of experience I thought that maybe i could work as a therapist or counsellor or whatever, but the problem was, there was no registering body. The need is definately there though. That was a few years ago and maybe things have changed. Good luck.

Here are some of my favorite sayings: If you can't get out of it, get into it. Unless you're the lead horse, the view never changes. You don't stop playing because you grow old, you grow old because you stop playing. Ralph Waldo Emerson I'll try to be nicer if you try to be smarter. A friends fridge magnet. I've abandoned my search for truth and am now looking for a good fantasy. A t-shirt I had as a teen. Imagination is greater than knowledge. Albert Einstein. Never buy a car you can't push. Live and Let Live

I am an RPN and a few years ago I looked into trying to get work in HAwaii. I have 20 years experience and thought that if I couldn't be hired as an RPN then perhaps I could be hired as a therapist or whatever. When talking to the recruiters the problem was that I had to have a registering body in the US. I was hoping the nursing shortage especially on the islands would work to my advantage, but alas, it did not. I was told that I would have to have registration with one of the other states and that CAlifornia was the easiest.(?) With your additional schooling you may have more luck, but that was my experience. Good luck!

I guess I should have said I am from Western CAnada. RPNs are Registered Psychiatric Nurses. Ontario is obviously different. In B.C. there are only LPNs as far as practical nurses go. Sorry for the confusion.

I am from Western Canada, and an RPN is a registered psychiatric nurse. The program is 3 years. We are limited in the areas we can work and of course specialize in psychiatry. The USA does not recognize us and there is no registering body in the US for us. It is the western provinces that have programs and job opportunities for RPNs. The northern territories also will work with our registering body to make it possible to work in their area.

After working 19 years on the same acute adult inpatient unit we have just gone to plastic cutlery as the result of an incident which didn't even involve utentsils. I have been asked to research this from a safety perspective. So, does your acute psych unit have plastic or metal cutlery? Have there ever been incidents of aggression using cutlery? If the patients are opposed, does the research support use of plastic cutlery? Any and all comments welcome!! :smiley_ab