Psych77

I may see 5 people with chest pain in a day. Most are fake; for us we need a doctor on site to do an EKG; so at night, we just have to go by vitals, our assessment, age, IM's history, and bulls*** meter. If everything looks good, they are young, and bs meter is high, we give them mylanta, send them back to their unit, and tell them to contact us again if symptoms don't go away or worsen. Our inmates are charged for each visit 5 dollars, but some of our nurses forget to have them fill out the paperwork that ensures they get charged the money. Oftentimes, just by handing them the paperwork to fill out, their chest pain goes away. I think every facility is different; if a doctor is on site, we do ekg, then if needed aspirin, o2....and/or ship them out to ER. It really depends. Some prisons have an infirmary also, so they may be sent there, but that's usually if they are stable.

If I were you I would totally just study for a couple months, get all the help you can get with courses, study groups, tutoring, whatever you can do. I failed a semester in school (days before graduation), and it sucked but I repeated it the next year and passed. It really sounds like you will make a great psych nurse. There are jobs in for people with bachelors degrees in the psych field, but I think they are more rare and won't pay you like a nurse (and probably hire psychology majors).

5 dollar gift card for Subway, paid for by our nursing supervisors

I stopped trying to convince them that its justified, it never goes anywhere. You just have to tolerate that they are upset with the system and you are the messenger. On a positive note, a lot of nurses I work with forget to have them fill out the proper paperwork so they are charged; I always try not to do that, because I notice that it cuts down on inmates coming in for nonsense complaints. Our sick calls are $5 dollars.

yes its saltpeter. However, I seem to remember that some anti-depressants reduce sexual performance in men.

Psych patient with disheveled hair sprawled out in different directions, and a wide eyed kind of stare, "I haven't slept in seven years". She would say it every day, like a mantra. Of course she's observed sleeping every night.

Hopefully you can study and get that 92%. I flunked out of my last semester of my ADN. They let me go back the next year, and I finished and am now working. I met a lot of people who repeated courses and then finished. I would also say most nursing students use drugs...meaning caffeine!

So those in corrections know we deal with fake chest pain, fake abdominal pain, fake seizures, fake everything all the time. My latest technique I just discovered is....making them wait while I monitor them. Sometimes I'm not sure if something is real or fake, and if I should call the doctor or not. I've noticed that with several inmates that they just can't stand this, and eventually they will say they are fine and "can I go back to my unit now?" Obviously I would not do this if there were the possibility of a true emergency, but in some cases it has worked without endangering safety. Any other thoughts on how to rule out malingering?

when I hear this, I sometimes think: 'correct....I'm not a female. thanks for clarifying publicly to the world for me.'

haha...they told us that too...I tried it for one day( maybe even for one patient?), and it felt so absurd, and then I realized that no one else is saying this.

I was just talking about this with the nurses at work; people were saying, don't get the insurance (unless you are rich), because lawyers can find out you have it and sue you personally instead of just the prison.

But everyone you work with is a con:chicken: (convict)

nurses eat their young

This is why I don't get my BSN; I suspect I will pay 15K and learn theories.

I used to do the same thing at my psych rn job (now I'm in corrections). It seems appropriate rather than...what you said, socializing in the nursing station, which is what generally happens. I guess nurses and doctors feel that they just do the medical side, let the therapists do the mental/emotional stuff. Its a grey area I think, because sometimes we are too busy with medical/nursing care type things, but sometimes in psych you have a lot of extra time which you could use to help people.

My first job, after graduating with my ADN, was technically an LPN position at a home health agency. The pay was LPN wage, but they hired RNs ( I assume they really needed people). The reason I did that was because it was hard to get a job, so I wanted to get some experience while I continued to apply. It paid off, and after 2 months I got an offer for an RN job that paid I think 10 dollars more an hour.

That's ridiculous. I'm pretty sure I would quit at such a place, or somehow make sure you get your break. Nurses tend be self-sacrificing people, but I need a break to give proper care. We have a clinic, and if we have emergencies, we have the ability to cancel scheduled people. I see nurses who seem to not want to cancel people, but later say how they missed their break and are hungry. But I just started canceling people whenever needed because of so many emergencies. You need to eat to function at your best.

That's ridiculous. I'm pretty sure I would quit at such a place, or somehow make sure you get your break. Nurses tend be self-sacrificing people, but I need a break to give proper care. We have a clinic, and if we have emergencies, we have the ability to cancel scheduled people. I see nurses who seem to not want to cancel people, but later say how they missed their break and are hungry. But I just started canceling people whenever needed because of so many emergencies. You need to eat to function at your best.

I've been working in corrections for 3 months now. My experience consists of about 2 years in psych, so you are better prepared than me. However, they knew this when they hired me, so I'm pretty much transparent if I don't know something, or I look it up. I've looked up a lot and reviewed things at home to refresh my memory. I run things by nurses with a lot of experience often (I try to find out what their background is so I can ask them about what they are expert in); most nurses don't mind. I've felt a bit unprepared also, but...it seems people quit a lot in corrections, so we have that going for us. You'll see a lot of fake things, so its challenging if you don't know what the real presentation looks like. Review chest pain and seizures to start.

Yea, work as a CNA while you are in nursing school or prior to. I did not do this and became an RN, ADN, but learning the basics was a bigger learning curve; the LPNs and paramedics in my class probably got way more out of the classes. In the medical world its a lot about experience.

I always do it, so as to invest in the relationship. I'm not sure if its totally expected.

I started nursing school at 32 as second career. I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up.

The example of RN pay being higher was also travel nursing, which means you have to drive an hour to work to get that pay, and likely its a contract. Not ideal working hours for most.

I've been at psych nursing for 2 years. It seems to me the fact that you actually want to make sure you act appropriately is a great sign, because it means you are self-aware. Many people I've worked with seem to be superficial about patients. Like others said, seasoned nurses can help with dealing with setting boundaries. I myself tend to the overly nice type, and am not comfortable with setting boundaries, so it has been a learning experience in dealing with people with cluster B traits. I often try to run things by experienced nurses. If you know that a borderline can be manipulative, then you can be more aware when its happening. Like I've felt flattered by them before, but because I know what is happening, I act appropriately and not out of sentiment.

So I'm on my third psych job, in 3 different states. My travel job in New York city was like you described; I had 7-10 patients, some were very gangsta-like, gamey, etc. I had so many patients that it was really hard to do more than give pills and chart if they were suicidal or not. I was very stressed and chose not to renew my contract, though they paid well. I'm now in a facility with a max of 4 patients, and the whole culture is much more high level that I can really give better care. But it is my nature to kind of help people on the psych level, I know people that the thought of doing psych just scares them.