Psych Professional Interview (for school)

I should also say that I really appreciate your help. This is a huge favor that I am asking - I apologize for my quick and dry opening post. I hope you can find some time on your - I'm sure - very busy schedule to help a student.

This is not a homework in a way that I have to do work myself before discussion (other than asking questions and think about the answers), it's an interview. We are supposed to find professionals in the area, ask them questions about the future of Psych nursing and discuss those in class. Our instructor asked us not to ask anyone from our clinical site, so I am in a bind because I only know one person in the area and I'm having problems contacting her.

Thanks again!

I'm not exactly in your area, but I am in the northwest. I'm a mental health RN, and I can give you my opinion if it's helpful.

1) I work on a forensic psych unit. My patients have been charged with a crime and are being evaluated to see if they are able to aid and assist their attorneys. My job as a nurse is to help them prepare for their competency evaluations, medication education and administration, work with the other unit staff, doctors, social workers and rehabilitation specialists to make and implement care plans that will help our patients get ready to go back to court and ultimately return to the community. There can also be a lot of behavioral emergencies to manage, and a ton of documentation!

2) Unfortunately the first thing that came to mind was that our resources are always getting cut. :-) Also, and this is just my observation based on the population I work with, there seems to be an increase in patients who were not genuinely psychotic before they became frequent drug users. We seem to be getting more and more patients who don't have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder... they've just fried their brains on meth. They may be experiencing genuine psychosis now, but not as the result of some organic mental illness.

3) One of the biggest challenges, at least in forensic psych, is maintaining a balance between a patient's rights and their safety. Mentally ill people often do not make the choices you or I would say are the best, but they still have the right to make those choices. Mental health has come a long way, and that is a positive thing. As nurses, we always want to promote independence with our patients. Where it becomes a challenge is when the choices someone wants to make poses a threat to themselves, other patients on the unit, or you as staff. For example, we have plenty of "frequent flyers" who we know are assaultive if they're not medicated. We can't forcibly medicate someone unless they show us that they are unsafe without the medication. So even if we have seen a patient come in unmedicated, assault staff, and then stabilize and do really well once involuntary needs are started 10 times during 10 previous admissions, we can't stay involuntary medications on this admission until that person attacks someone. So even though I believe it's good that patients rights are more recognized and protected by law, it is a challenge to be the nurse who has to show up and take responsibility for that unit when you know a patient has a high probability of being assaultive.

I hope this is somewhat helpful! If you have any more questions or would like me to clarify anything, please let me know. I'd be happy to!

Thank you so much ScenicRoute! This is going to help a lot, this is exactly what I needed. I am going to put the interviews together tomorrow night and if I need to ask any more questions I will come back here. Thanks again for your time!