NMorrisRN

You are completely valid in your feelings! In my opinion those techs need to be fired! I don't care how little or long they've worked there. #1. As a tech on the unit you are trained to take down a patient. #2. Even if you aren't a trained professional any decent human being with an ounce of empathy for human life would intervene in a situation like that. I truly hope those techs got a good tongue lashing. I am truly sorry you had to deal with that. I couldn't imagine working in an environment like that.

Geesshhhhh! PsychGuy, APRN, NP I am sorry. I'm sorry that from what I've read you seem to be getting attacked when what you truly wanted was advice. I am new to psych nursing (not new to nursing) and I can tell you I AM BORED!! My situation is a bit different. I work night shift at a military hospital so after 10PM our patients are sound asleep and I spend my night reading and doing little odd jobs around the unit. For this reason I am seeking employment at a civilian psychiatric hospital as the military tends to weed out the mentally ill and therefore we don't see "real psych." We mostly get family members in need of acute stabilization, people expressing SI/HI and young people having their first break. My advice? I say do what you feel is best for you. Maybe change the unit you work on? Maybe you look elsewhere for employment? Maybe you take some of the non-judgmental suggestions some people have made or try to get the most out of this experience? Whatever you do just be sure you are happy. Life is too short, your almost done with school and soon you'll be doing what you love. Best of luck to you!

I did but it was very much a watch kind of deal, and what I saw wasn't much. The RNs were buried in paperwork and the techs ran the floor. I spent my clinicals with the techs who just policed the area. The hospital I work in is much different we have alot of opportunities to interact with the patients. We are well staffed and even when I charge nurse I always get the opportunity to interact with the patients. I am unsure if my interactions are correct. I'm just kind of learning as I go, reading what I can, and crossing my fingers that oneday I will "get" psych nursing the way I "get" medsurg nursing.

Thank you! I have been waiting for someone to reply lol. I will be buying this book! I truly appreciate your response

I work in military medicine, sadly this is the norm. All military nurses who work at a Naval Hospital work these hours :-(

I'm interested to see what the response is to this post. I hope someone answers soon. As a new psych RN I need this tip as well.

I may be an exception because I work in military medicine but yes we do. If a patient on our inpatient mental health unit has a code blue we are expected to start the IV etc as we wait for code team to arrive that way they can immediately begin to give meds etc when they arrive. We train on our unit for this using staff as "patients" who have coded, we also have lots of IV training due to this as we want our staff ready when they need to insert an IV

In my hospital we work 12 hour swing shifts. Two days of 12 hour shifts one week and five days of 12 hour shifts the next. I dread the five day work weeks - it's almost inhuman to make someone work five 12 hour shifts in one week - truly sucks.

I am a new psych RN and I keep looking for a book I can buy to help me with my psych RN skills a sort of, "How To Psych Nurse For Dummies." But I am starting to believe there is no such book. Or is there? I have purchased the DSM V (more so I can read about the diagnosis my patients have, what it means etc) and also the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing Scope and Standards of Practice 2nd edition. I feel like this - if I were working on a medsurg floor I would rock it out. I can insert IVs, draw blood, care for wounds, ensure the bed is always in the lowest locked position like nobodies business, but on psych I just feel lost and I don't like it :-( I feel like no one teaches you how to be a psych nurse, like we are taught to document, unit policies and then set free to figure it out on our own. I want to provide proper care, proper therapeutic communication, want to know how to properly interact with the patients etc. Does anyone understand what I am trying to say? Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Whether it be a book to buy or an article to read or even tips - yes tips would be great! I truly love this patient population and just want to help them as best as I can. Thank you for taking time out your day to read my post and reply to it :-)

I agree - this is awesome. I actually saved it to my computer - thank you! We use a generated unit report for our reporting. It has the following information. Pt name Age Admission date Dx Track (we work on a track system A =psychotic issues etc Team (or Dr.) Precautions (what level are they on, we use a leveling system 1 - 5. are they on detox? close for suicide?) Allergies Current medication V/S and finally there's room for the IPASS (aka the new SBAR) Hope this helps!