lkeasling

How ironic that she said something cuz she was tired. I sure would hate to see what happens when she is fully awake. Oops gotta go my turn to deal!

This is something I have witnessed among new nurses as of late. They make a serious error and do not take responsibility for it. They say 'I'll do the education and disciplinary actions'without a second thought to the seriousness of their actions. Now to save myself heartache it is not ALL new nurses so don't start. 😄 However in our profession we must be precise in everything we do as we are the ones who are first to sit on the witness stand ALONE. Its true you may need some education but let this lesson be the first of many you take to heart and never forget. Please be mindful of your procedures and you will have a long career. Also maybe you wont want to start in ED nursing right off the bat. Those nurses are very experienced and can pull a benadryl with their eyes closed. They don't pull it to hold on to it, ever. If you talk to a lawyer you may just find yourself some heartache.

Having worked in geriatrics, falls are a major concern for all patients. With that said being new to any unit there is always a learning curve. This is where any and all documentation will save you, no matter who is trying to 'throw you under the bus'. Always assure you leave call light in reach of oriented patients and place disoriented patients in eye sight. Doing this and documenting these precautions will decrease the amount of falls you are experiencing. Also for as long as I have been a nurse lowering a patient to the floor is in fact preventing a fall. Just know your policy and procedures and always document. Good luck.

Well I have seen the comments on here and if I was going into the field as a new nurse I would run based on these comments. Here is food for thought; I have worked psychiatry for more than 20 years. The times I was hit was by alzhiemers patients who come from a generation who thinks it is ok to hit. I have never been injured to a point of needing medical help. Why? Because I use my words. If you come into the field you will find your assessment skills will be a great asset. You will be able to learn to ' trust your gut' so to speak. You will not only Lear about psychotropic meds but other meds and how they interact with the psychotropics. You will learn about the human condition and how you can contribute to attempt to make it better. There will be days you will be so angry you will want to quit, other days you won't be able to hold your happiness in, and then there are days you will sit in your car and cry. But any nurse from any area will tell you all of this. Psych nursing is a specialized field, just like cardiac nursing, Er nursing and ob-gyn nursing. We have our physical days and we have our emotional days. Yes you get training to learn how to intervene in a crisis, but if you don't treat the patients like they should be treated, then you will get the reputation among patients as a nurse who doesn't care. As a nurse THAT is the worst injury to ever try to recover from.

I went into nursing just to be a psych nurse. There are not many of us out there who truly love working psychiatry. If it is something you want to do then I say do it! Keep in mind it is not easy by any means, but I believe the most gratifying. Yes we have our frequent fliers buff as it was mentioned before you get to know those patients and figure out how to work with them. You will learn so much and if you like it you can make a difference, even with the frequent fliers! Good luck and welcome to the world of psych!

Like filing a cps or aps report, if you think it should be done do it. If you have a gut feeling, and I believe you do or you wouldn't have asked, if you think it is a hippa violation then it is. I am a firm believer in hippa as I have seen it broken and been a victim of a hippa violation. Just put yourself in the patients shoes, would YOU want to be talked about like you just talked about them? It's simple common sense and courtesy. As nurses we are SUPPOSED to leave the patient information where it belongs, with the patient. I would hope you learned that in your training.

To middleagegal I am currently beginning my course for PMHNP. I have been an RN for 20 years and I went into nursing SPECIFICALLY to be a psych nurse. I have seen nurses from other fields come into psych nursing because they thought it was an easy way to be a nurse without the lifting. Then when they start they become disillusioned because it was a lot more than they thought. It takes a special frame if mind to do this kind of work. You have to have highly precise assessment skills as some of the meds we use are as deadly, if not more so than 'medical' medications. I not only have to know how these medications work but how do they effect those so called medical medications. I have a keen sense of observation all because of the line of work I do. I also have a sharp memory because I cannot carry a chart and take care of my patients to write everything that is said and done. So imo yes it is important to check out psych nursing before you sink money into the education. You could be like so many nurses that I have seen come and go just because they didn't know what they were getting into. Me, I wouldn't do anything else. The reason why I am doing PMHNP? Because so many doctors and people who are higher up than me tell me my skill set has surpassed being an RN. Good luck!