Jbgood

I’ve worked as a psych RN for over 3 years. Before that I worked on a post op surgical floor for a few months and I hated it. Psych is a speciality that is either for you or it is not. I’ve seen psych nurses that were so stressed out they transferred to medical and ended up loving that more. I’ve seen psych nurses cry and have break downs over patients screaming at them and calling them names. I will say the only time I cried was after I was physically attacked by a patient and wound up in the ED because she hit me in my face and head multiple times. Then she walked away and calmly sat in a chair and acted like she didn’t do anything wrong, only to tell other staff that I got in her way. Psych is certainly stressful, no doubt. But I find the main factor for success in psych is having a good team, other coworkers and management to help back you up, and a good security team. If you don’t have that on any giving day the stress level rises. But you can have the same issues on a medical floor too, or the ED. Honestly, if I could get a desk job like you and make the same amount of money I’d do it in a heartbeat vs working the floor any day. Lol. But to each their own.

As someone who is a psych nurse it’s common that people feel it’s ok to attack us verbally and physically. I get tired of people who feel like just because they have psych issues they get a pass to be abusive. I’ve actually straight up asked patients, why are you screaming at me? And it usually follows up with a lame excuse like- I’m stressed cause my brother died, my wife left me, I can’t get my benzos or narcs, I’m bored, I’m homeless and have nowhere to go...and it’s all your fault and you don’t understand! Oh yes, your situation is all my fault and I have never had stress or trauma in my life either. Ok. I’m a human being too, sometimes I have to remind patients of that. Sad but true! First time I was violently assaulted was a few months ago and the charge nurse asked if I wanted to press charges. When the police officer came he acted like he was put out for having to fill out a report over a psych patient attacking a nurse, almost to the point of insinuating that this is my job so I should expect it. Really, should police officers expect abuse too and just tolerate it? They are only going to charge this guy in the article with manslaughter and with good behavior he could be out in a few years. Heaven help us all!

Yes, especially after people start working as an RN and realize this is not what they want to do for the next 40 years. I'm in psych and half the people I work with are in grad school for NP. I wonder where they will all go to work!

The fact is, the doctor put in the discharge order and he signed it so it's no longer your concern that he's manipulating the situation saying he now wants to stay. You did the right thing telling him he had to leave and as someone who was A&O could have taken his butt right back to the ED. I don't work medical, I work psych and we have psychiatrists put in discharge orders all the time for patients who manipulate and try to overstay their welcome. For us, the patients don't even have to sign the orders to leave, we can put on the papers that they declined to sign and send them on their way. Sometimes we will even have security standby in case they get violent or otherwise refuse to walk out the door. Bottom line, doctor ordered discharge, so just document and then wash your hands of the situation. As far as you not being able to get over the verbal abuse and name calling, I know it's tough. I deal with this behavior all the time in psych and though I don't have the thickest of skins I try to just tell myself this "I'm getting paid to be here and at the end of the day I get to go home to my dog and my kids, happy and healthy while patient X has to deal with whatever mental, physical, or drug issues they have. Boy, am I glad I'm not them!"

My first nursing job out of school was on a busy post op surgical floor with a high patient load. I can tell you I left one day before my orientation was up, so I was only there for 3 months and it was hell on Earth. My preceptors were horrible, just about everyone who worked on this floor was catty. My first preceptor acted like precepting me was her vacation. I was basically given a patient load, a phone, and told "Here's your patients, come find me if you have any questions." Most of the time I couldn't find her and when I did I would get an eye roll or a snarky comment. I didn't know what the hell I was doing, my zone phone rang constantly and I couldn't answer anyone's questions and the doctors thought I was an idiot and I was yelled at multiple times. All I could say was "I'm sorry, I'm a new nurse in training." Not only was I yelled at by doctors but was snapped at by other nurses and even the receptionist. By the time I got to my second preceptor 3 weeks before the end of my orientation she expected me to know everything. But I spent so much time on my own running around like a chicken with my head cut off I barely had time to learn. Not only was she unforgiving but she also acted like she was on vacation, taking selfies with her phone at the nurses station and such. Just completely unprofessional! I would spend hours on end after my shift just catching up on charting while my preceptors left me and went home. I would see the janitors on the floor and fantasize about switching places with them because scrubbing toilets seemed so much better. There were times on my drive to work that I wished I would be in a fiery car crash rather than make it to the parking lot. I left that job for a psych position that I've been at for 7 months. Though I will say it's less hectic than working on a busy hospital floor I can't say that there are times it's not as grueling...just in a different way. When you are dealing with manic, drug seeking, borderline, or violent patients who are constantly in your face for 12-16 hours at a time it wears you down. At least at this job I have more support with other coworkers and management. But I still dream of working a nice, peaceful office job and think of how much I wasted my time with a nursing degree when I could have went into a different field making the same, if not more money!

Wow, people in these comments are so rude. If you don't have anything legit to add to the convo than don't answer. Well I hate nursing too and I have been doing it less than a year and worked on a hospital floor and now in a psych facility. I'm an RN and I stopped working on my BSN and don't plan on returning. I'm sorry I wasted all these years going to school to do this, to make less than 40 grand a year to be berated by patients, doctors, and other nurses. It's not worth the stress of making $21 an hour to be verbally assaulted and physically threatened on a daily basis where I work by psych patients. I used to think I wanted to help people, but fact is most of these people don't want help...the borderlines are constantly screaming for attention, the drug seekers are screaming at you cause you can't provide them with their fix, and the violent ones and the ones with severe brain malfunctions scream at you just because. And we're like a rotating door that the same people come back over and over again with more of their bad attitudes like it's my fault they are in this situation. I'm sorry to hear that you were attacked during a home health visit...that's so scary! I can relate to you that I have started to self soothe, not with cigarettes but with alcohol and I was not a drinker prior to this. Unfortunately this will be my life until I can finish a degree in something else...maybe accounting. I'd rather make the same amount of money to sit at a desk all day and crunch numbers than to put up with the muck that is the nursing profession. My advice to you would be to not finish your RN because it doesn't get any better and I've come across very few nurses that actually like what they do.

You don't want to work retail, trust me. I worked various retail jobs throughout my early 20s and those were some of the worst jobs I've ever had! People were so rude...I was verbally assaulted on a daily basis, disrespected, had things thrown at me, was physically threatened. The customer was always right. I once had a manager tell me if a customer spit on me I was to smile and tell them thank you. The pay was crap, even as an assistant manager when I worked at the mall. I would do anything else before I'd go back to retail...anything!!

When the nurse you are relieving is more excited to see you than usually cause they are ready to haul butt out of there and when they end their report sarcastically saying "Good luck!"

This is really sad but his thread started in 2011 and it seems the farther I scroll along the less the starting pay is as the years go on. I realize it depends on what area you live in but even in the Midwest I see nurses starting out at way more money per hour 5 years ago then now. I'm in the STL area and started on a post op surgical floor earlier this year making $23 base pay with $3 diff for night shift as an ADN. I left that job due to stress and high patient load to start in a psych facility on days with base at $21. I have to pick up extra shifts and work overtime every week just to make ends meet for me and my 2 kids. This is not the lucrative career I thought it would be, what I'd read and what friends told me, and the amount of stress is too much for such little pay. Now I don't even want to finish my BSN and am considering a degree change. I could be an accountant starting at the same pay and actually be able to take lunch breaks and not have to deal with unappreciative or downright violent patients.

I'm a new nurse and started on a busy, high patient load, med surg floor with 12 weeks training but I had an awful preceptor and my training consisted of "here's your phone and your patient assignments, let me know if you have questions". Asking questions and asking for help consisted of her rolling her eyes or otherwise making me feel incompetent...that is if I could even find her. Therefore I left right before my training ended and now I'm starting on a psych unit where I was told I would be trained as if I had zero experience and that they had a great preceptor program. I'm training with another girl who is a new grad and we just found out yesterday that we will be with our preceptor training on the floor a total of 10 days before we are on our own. 10 days?? Wow, that's quite a change from 12 weeks at the other hospital. I hope I learn a lot on that short time. Lol

Assembly line at a bread factory on night shift. Lasted there maybe a week. You stood in one spot all night as metal trays came down and you had to quickly shape bread dough into whatever pattern was on the metal mold. And those trays just kept coming. I would get nauseated with the quick and continual repetition. But there was no sitting down or taking a break cause you felt sick. And the only other woman at the plant hated my guts and would express out loud what she thought about me every night. I had quite a few retail jobs and they were all horrible. Customers treated you like you were a second class citizen, the holidays were the worst...people were so nasty and rude. I was yelled at and belittled on a regular basis, just because. I had people throw things at me, threaten me with spitting on me or otherwise causing bodily harm, and threaten to sue me. I never got death threats, though I did have to be escorted to my car after work more than once. One time because a woman got mad at me over something trivial after she returned a product and then stood outside the window next to my registered and stared at me. A manager had to go out and ask her to leave and she said it was within her rights to stand on public property and intimidate me. She wouldn't leave until the manager threatened to call the police in which she replied that she would be back.