Psych question

i just began working in a regional hospital that does have a psych unit... so as of now i don't really know a whole lot about our unit... but i'll try to help you here the best that i can..

hello

i need some help with psych questions. our facility is in process of deciding if we want to keep our unit or not. many other hospital based programs have closed their doors. can you answer for me the following if you have a unit:

what types of patients do you take

we have a unit that accepts young adults, but we also care for the elderly struggling with dementia and behavior issues related to their dementia

do you have an admission nurse-if so where do they work and what hours (this is for psych only)

no, i think basically the patients present to the er, they are examined by the doctor... the psychiatrist is consulted... and then they are given a preliminary diagnosis by a physician, not a nurse, and sent to the psychiatric unit to be admitted by the psychiatric nurse on duty in the unit

residents or not

you mean, do they come to our unit and stay there on a semi permanent basis? no. it's strictly short term.

do you have outpatient services

i know that we do, but i can't elaborate much.

how big is your unit

22 beds

what kind of training does the staff perform

i know that there is a class entitled "non violent crisis intervention" that the psych staff must take. other than that, i'm not sure.

any suggestions for moving our program along

i would have to know/understand better why it is that your unit is about to close. at one time, i worked at another regional hospital whose psychiatric unit did close, and i could share with you the reasons i *believe* that it did close.

i want our program to be excellent within our community but i can't seem to get any benchmarking information to help me.