AshleyJeanRN

Either you work with a pt population with less acute/serious issues or you're doing it wrong. Sitting and talking with pts is a part of being a nurse in any speciality. Yes we may have more time to talk with patients on a psych unit but in my experience this can be one of the more difficult aspects of being a psych nurse (I work in a free standing, inpatient psych hospital so my pts tend to have a lot of issues) because it's more than just asking how they're doing and teaching them about their treatment. I think all nurses should ask about mental health, especially suicidal/self harm ideations, but as a psych nurse that is part of every conversation with pts. Getting past that tough subject, you also have pts with little to no insight into their condition which adds another obstacle to effective pt/nurse interaction. Again, I don't know about your facility, but aggressive outbursts can be common and knowing how to diffuse the situation makes all the difference in whether a pt is calmed down verbally or if as a last resort, a physical or medical management is necessary. I could go on and on (meds, peer interactions and so on), but most of it has been covered. I didn't mean to write a ton, but it makes me sad when fellow nurses downplay the role of a psych nurse. Too much stigma is placed on mental health and in turn, the professionals who care for that population.

I'm a brand new psych nurse so I don't claim to know everything, but from what I've experienced at work and from previous experience, some of the most outgoing, seemingly happy people are very good at hiding their severe depression from others. To give a personal example, I consider myself to be a pretty shy/awkward person around new people outside of patient/nurse relationships, but I have a tendency to try and hide it by cracking jokes and acting super outgoing. Obviously that isn't as extreme as hiding major depression and suicidal ideation, but it's at least along those same lines. A lot of times I think people with depression dislike that part of themselves and think that their peers won't accept them unless they put on a happy face so they become the complete opposite around most people. This article comes from a humor site, but it actually gives some great insight into this topic as it's written by a funny person who also suffers from depression Robin Williams and Why Funny People Kill Themselves | Cracked.com