Psych unit

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I shadowed on a very busy psych unit today. The nurse I followed had ten pts at the start of shift. Two discharges and one incoming admit by the time I left at 1pm. The other nurse had one dc and one admit. They use paper charting as well.

They have no unit clerk for two nurses, twenty pts, and two aides! Those poor nurses are stuck answering the phone constantly.

I am hopeful that I will get the job but they have not worked with a nurse who has a consent agreement with the the Ohio BON. I just don't know how its going to work...

How can I have ten pts with so many meds (ativan/haldol/tramadol/etc) that I cannot pass.

I would of course do tasks for that nurse for passing my meds as much as possible. I just don't want to be a hinderance to already busy nurses.

ANNDDD of course state was there today.. Go figure!

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).

I have never worked outside of California but here most Psych Hospital employ LVNs or LPTs to pass medications. RN's interact with patients - do admits and discharges and maintain a safe a supportive environment. I generally have somewhere between 11 and 16 patients but the work is different than bedside. It takes a lot of effort and time to get the hang of it and you have to like to talk a lot. But it's a very doable job.

Hppy

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This sounds very much like my first job when I entered monitoring. I will be blunt here. It was terrible, dangerous and taxing. I was the day shift nurse on the pediatric unit. Behavioral health. I loved those babies with all my heart though. It changed my perspective of working with kids as I had come from critical care trauma. Those kids were mostly traumatized, abused and in the system. This was a UHS facility and everyone knows their reputation. I stuck it out though, prayed for the safety of the kids and staff each shift as we were really understaffed. I had to threaten safe harbor multiple times. Often it was just me, with 20 plus pedis and 1-2 techs. I don't recommend it. But, I made it through my required year and made connections and got the heck out. I miss those babies sometimes but now I have a job in a much safer environment, most of the time. I cannot wait to get out of monitoring so I will have more options.

Best of luck on your endeavors. You can do it.

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Yikes. Good Luck!!!

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I now work in psych and that ratio sounds about right. It seems a little slow in the admission, discharge category...but that may be due to the type of unit you are on. My unit usually has between 3 to 10 admissions a day and 2 to 7 discharges as well (capacity of 20). But our length of stay can be as short as 3 days, not counting AMAs for straight substance detox who leave after 36 hours, so our patient turnover is pretty rapid. And yeah, no unit secretary either...answering phones is a massive time suck for me and I hate it.

I had a narc restriction for six months and had to go on witnessed naltrexone to get off restriction. I was put on the gero unit for those six months as they staffed way more nurses and it was easier for the other nurses to pick up my slack. That being said, I was getting the evil eye by month 4, and we all were so over the entire arrangement.

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