Hi

RN315 · Mar 5, 2013

I had a friend who used to work at this hospital and said there are 2 nurses on the unit for the day shift. 1 for medications and 1 for being the charge nurse (there are 22 patients on the unit). do you think that is alot? Because at my med surg/tele position I am only caring for 6-7 patients (but of course they are much more heavier in terms of medically).

Psychcns · Mar 7, 2013

I had a friend who used to work at this hospital and said there are 2 nurses on the unit for the day shift. 1 for medications and 1 for being the charge nurse (there are 22 patients on the unit). do you think that is alot? Because at my med surg/tele position I am only caring for 6-7 patients (but of course they are much more heavier in terms of medically).

Depends on how it is organized. And how many other staff and how acute the patients. And how many admissions and discharges. What is documentation like??

NPAlby · Mar 7, 2013

I'm a Psych NP so I'm partial to giving the psych inpt job a try. The nurse pt ration is different for psych nursing. I have been to units where I was the only RN for a 30pt unit. And I have also been part of a unit with multiple RNs with pt load of 7-9. So depends on what kind of unit is. I think you've done your med surg time. Go try psych. I guarantee you it will never be boring.

RN315 · Mar 7, 2013

Thank u! I got the position will be working on the children/ adolescent unit..I heard that's the craziest unit in the hospital (hope I will survive) lol and no nurse likes to work there!! Ugh I hope I'm making the right decision luckily they put me on the evening and day shift so I'm happy about that

NPAlby · Mar 7, 2013

I was a travel RN for years so I got sent to work at places no one else wanted. I think it made me a better nurse. So just think of it as a learning experience. Consider it your psych nursing bootcamp. Of course if things are unsafe (physically or license wise) then I would hightail my butt out of there.

RN315 · Mar 8, 2013

Thanks for ur input!! Will let u know how it goes

RN315 · Mar 9, 2013

It's a 24 bed unit with one nurse and one LPN do you think that is a safe environment to practice in?

GeneralJinjur · Mar 10, 2013

I would expect some MHTs along with the 2 of you for 24 kids. I've been doing ped/adolescent psych for the past year and love it, even though many others don't care for my unit. It's nice because there's more room for improvement compared to some of the adult cases and some of the kids really want help. (I did my first year with suicidal/borderline adults.) You will get lots of practice maintaining your boundaries. I find I can be more patient with out of control bx in a child than in a middle aged adult (I am not talking psychosis here, just minimal coping skills/manipulative crapola). I hope you enjoy it and don't sweat it if others don't find it their cup of tea. You'll never know until you give it a shot. Good luck!