oldpsychnurse

This is the kind of patient the docs will medically clear (even if they have a tube sticking into and out of every available orifice) in order to send them to us, your friendly psych unit!

I know I'm way behind here for commenting, but here's my 2 cents. First, when people you work with, who like you and depend on you, find out you're leaving, they start to pull back. It keeps them from hurting so bad when you leave, compared to hanging with you until the last second and then being sliced out of your life. Second, the foot you step on on your way up might be connected to the orifice you're kissing on your way back down. You made a good decision to work your last shift.

I would hope the safety cell is truly a safety cell. The ones at the prison where I worked had a metal cot, no sheets, blankets or pillows, and the usual metal toilet/sink. The inmates went in there completely nude. They usually wound up wrapped from head to toe in toilet paper, mummy style, shivering on the metal cot. They got the same food, and nobody stood out there to talk to them. I never saw any inmate be suicidal longer than 24 hours.

I am so dang sick of bed placement pushing those ED admits on us.

I'm not an MSN by any means but I've had my share LGBTQI patients. I'm not sure what you mean by LGBTQI "issues." Most of the ones I've had don't have issues with their sexuality. I'd say the ones who do are in the minority, as most have accepted who and what they are. I have had some who came in because they were having problems either with accepting it themselves or with those they love accepting their sexuality. As to the trans patients, overall I'd say they have more issues than any others. I've seen so many that had underlying psych issues and seemed to believe transitioning would cure all their problems. Obviously, IMO, they weren't stable enough to make that decision and I've worked with quite a few that were transitioning back to their original sex. I think trans patients should have a lot of psych evaluation done before any doctor agrees to perform that surgery.

One of my psych patients hit the floor when we were bringing them back from smoke break. I was a new nurse and couldn't find a pulse, so I hollered for the techs to bring the code cart. Well, luckily the patient was only having a vasovagal reaction for whatever reason, but I still thought he probably needed some oxygen so I got all the tubing and got it attached, then realized I had no idea how to turn on the oxygen. So I started turning the most likely looking part, thinking I would soon be getting oxygen. Unfortunately I unscrewed the part that held the gauges on. I was left standing there, holding the knob, while all the gauges hit the floor. One of my techs reattached the gauges and turned on the oxygen. By then, the patient had regained consciousness and everybody, techs, patients and all, were standing there staring at me. After that, I got my preceptor to go over the entire cart with me but I never told her why I had such a sudden interest.

You might have a better chance at a nursing home. They're hard places to work but always looking for help. After you have a little experience, and hospitals can see you're serious about health care, then you'll have a better chance of getting hospital work.

I hated nursing school from day 1. I flunked peds the first time around and passed it the second time. I finally got to psych and found I loved it. The first 15 years or so were great, as I had the best job possible. After that, as times began to change, I really regretted becoming a nurse at all. If you think you're going to hate it, look into some other careers and make sure you want to go to nursing school. See if you can shadow some nurses in different areas to see if there's any hope you'll like it. To this day I wish I'd followed my dream of working with horses, but my dad always said there was no money there and if it was fun, they wouldn't call it work. So my only real advice is to try to find something you're interested in and relatively good at, that pays a decent living. Good luck to you!

You did everything humanly possible for the kid. Whatever the outcome, you are awesome. But there's a good chance that if he doesn't make it, you're going to suffer from PTSD. Please go ahead and talk to the chaplain, and if you still have the dreams, or uncontrollable crying or whatever, go ahead and get professional counseling. You shouldn't let any feelings of guilt wreck your life. You are incredible.

If the doctor wants you to do something (or not do it), there needs to be a written order, ALWAYS, no matter what the issue is. If he tells you verbally to do something that is so obviously wrong, tell him that you will take it as a verbal order. Write it as a verbal, and until he signs it, continue to document your vital signs. That guy is lazy and if the patient strokes out, he's going to be all "shocked" that you thought he told you not to document the VS and you're going to not only lose your license but probably be sued.

If he's using the old "everybody's doing it" excuse, I'd have to be nosy and call the school and ask them if that's true. If that's what they're doing, isn't there some FNP board you could report the entire school to? I would think the state BON would also be interested if they're cutting corners, since I suppose they have to credential the school. This guy is going to be one of those providers that cause nurses to roll their eyes when they find out they're the ones on call. That is, if he ever manages to pass his boards.

Just me, but I don't think anybody should have to check their cell phones for messages from their employer when they're on their break or otherwise off the clock. If it's that important, management should call the nurse on the unit phone.

I don't know anything about school nursing, so take anything I see with a grain of salt. But if you're not allowed to take pictures of abuse, maybe next time call the SRO in to take a look. It's a legal problem (assault, child abuse, whatever) and I would think his say-so would mean a lot in court. Also, are you allowed to call 911 and have him sent to the hospital? I can assure you they can take pictures and testify about any bruises they see, and they are also mandated reporters. The way parents are now, I'd have as many people look at that kids rump as possible (discreetly so as not to embarrass him any more that necessary).

I traveled for a while. Never even had to leave my state, but could have if I'd wanted to. After reading some of the comments here, I've seen some things that should never happen. For example, you should never have to pay to get licensed in another state. The travel agency should either pay upfront or reimburse you. And I never searched specific agencies. I went on-line and found the jobs I was interested in and then contacted the agency. Use an on-line job site to find what you want. I like Indeed.com. You can to there, type in Travel RN Dialysis and see what pops up. I think most travel agencies want 2 years experience, but it depends on how desperate the need is. Good luck! Traveling can be really fun.

When I graduated nursing school and went into psych, I had a patient call me something nasty (can't even remember what it was now). My very wise preceptor (RIP Linda Slaughter, RN) told me that psych patients have an uncanny ability to home in on what you're most insecure about. Whether it be your weight, your race, your hair, whatever, they can sense it, and that's what they're going to rag you about. Over my 30+ years as a psych nurse, I've found that's the most true statement I've ever heard. Some personality disorders are just hateful, but true psychotic patients have a tendency to say whatever comes to mind. I've been called pretty much everything in the book. Sometimes it's funny ("patient killing nurse" "***** in purple") and sometimes it's really insulting, but you just let it roll off and move on. Somehow I don't think this job is for you if you were that upset about a racial remark. If you can't deal with that, you are really going to have problems when they get really personal.