Psych RN-A Thankless Job?

angeloublue22, BSN, RN · Apr 22, 2017

You are doing what you should be doing. Face it, this is a talking job so we need to talk to patients. I'm wondering if they are getting frustrated that you are not available if needed or they don't know your exact location. If a patient is having an emergency crisis or becoming combative with staff, are you immediately interrupting yourself to help? Would you know if you are needed immediately? I also work in psych and we had a nurse that would spend very long periods with clients but wouldn't be available when needed at an instant notice, and the other nurse was having a hard time de-escalating with no back up and ended up getting punched in the face. I'm trying to see the other side of this for the reason they might have some frustration. If you don't already, let people know your plan. For instance, tell your colleague where you are going to be, for how long, and to come and get you if they need anything. Does your facility have a radio system?

femaleRN · Apr 22, 2017

We only have two conference rooms and our hallway is short. If I have to find another nurse it literally takes me about 1 minute to find them. I'm thinking the doctor was frustrated that I wasn't in the nurses station to tell me something (it wasn't anything even of importance ) and the other nurses might not like that I'm away for longer periods to answer the phone. I'm super quick to immediately jump up from talking with a patient if another staff comes to tell me I'm needed in the nurses station by a doctor or if another pt needs me. I feel it's more important for me to be working with these patients than in the nurses station available to talk to a doctor who'll I'll see for a brief period throughout the day. We used to have secretaries and they got rid of them. I figure our techs can answer the phone more or we need to find another solution.

femaleRN · Apr 22, 2017

Also good idea about a radio system. Maybe I need to ask our manager about getting one.

Psych77 · Apr 23, 2017

I used to do the same thing at my psych rn job (now I'm in corrections). It seems appropriate rather than...what you said, socializing in the nursing station, which is what generally happens. I guess nurses and doctors feel that they just do the medical side, let the therapists do the mental/emotional stuff. Its a grey area I think, because sometimes we are too busy with medical/nursing care type things, but sometimes in psych you have a lot of extra time which you could use to help people.

oceanblue52 · Apr 23, 2017

The other posters bring up some good points about seeing things from your colleagues point of view...but those issues can be addressed. From my experience working in different places I think it is more likely a cultural issue you are experiencing. Some hospitals have very cynical staff, high turnover, and any staff member that does any type of processing is seen as "triggering the patient" and being soft. *Typically* these types of places are unpleasant to work, and seem to attract jaded staff that thrive on power struggles. The best programming I ever saw at a different hospital actually required that staff do a "check-in" with 4-5 patients, and involved anywhere from 15-30 minutes of 1:1. Staff and patients a like seemed much calmer and more at peace. Very low staff turnover too.

foggnm · Apr 23, 2017

Nursing is indeed a thankless job. So thank you for taking the time to listen to your psych patients. It sounds to me like you might not be in the most positive environment. I worked in an ER a couple years ago where there was a culture of talking negative about others. It was mostly harmless stuff but I realized it permeated the unit. The nursing manager would say negative things about the docs and other nurses, the techs would say tasteless remarks about some of the nurses and docs and vice versa, the clerks would say negative things about everyone. The docs were perhaps the only ones smart enough to stay professional and not make such remarks. It was quite dysfunctional. A occasional criticism about a coworker isn't anything worth rioting over but if that kind of talk and gossip is common (and not just about you), then maybe it is time to search for another job?

TriciaJ, RN · Apr 23, 2017

Psych tends to attract people who don't plan on doing any work. It's like they think just being there is therapeutic for the patient and not much more is needed. The flip side is someone who hangs out with one patient all shift, ignores her other patients or any thing else going on in the unit. She wants to be seen as a caring nurse but is really just lightening her load at everyone else's expense.

It is a balancing act to provide each patient with individual care and maintain a safe and therapeutic environment for everyone. It sounds like you're self-directed enough to appreciate this. A lot of people aren't. A weak management will perpetuate the problem.

femaleRN · Apr 23, 2017

Yeah I don't play favorites with any of the patients or get buddy-buddy with them. I prefer to do everything down to the littlest task for my patient and make every decision for my patients. So I don't think they could complain that's it's me trying to be lazy. Also I don't do it to be a martter (sp?) I could care less what other nurses do with their patients. I figure I'm maintaining a safer unit by giving each patient time to tallk,positive feedback/coping skill review and therefore hopefully I can build rapor with my patients and hopefully they'll act out less. I might talk to my manager about my frustration, while trying to not make it too big of a deal. I'm not asking anyone else to change their style, but I'm sensitive that some are commenting about mine.

Zyprexa · Apr 23, 2017

I prefer to do everything down to the littlest task for my patient and make every decision for my patients.

I'm sorry, but are you saying that you do everything little thing for your patients and try to make all their decisions for them? :nono:

This is very concerning. It doesn't sound therapeutic at all to me, it takes away patient autonomy (what little they have on the psych unit). Maybe it's coming from a place of caring and wanting to be helpful towards your patients, but it seems overbearing and controlling. I apologize if I'm reading this wrong.

femaleRN · Apr 23, 2017

Oh no that was read totally wrong, sorry. The previous poster wrote maybe other staff were frustrated if they had to step up and make decisions and do things for my patients. I was saying I like to do all of my own work instead of other nurses having to step in. No patients need to do things for themselves and make their own decisions otherwise they'll loose their abilities and it's not my place to make decisions for them, unless it comes down to patient safety on the unit. Sorry I might have written that so it could read differently. Lol

Zyprexa · Apr 24, 2017

My apologizes, I had a feeling I might have been reading that wrong. From your other posts, you sound like a great psych nurse and I thought that one sentence seemed odd and out of place. Thank you for clarifying.