Hello psych nurses!
I hope that you can help me. I work in LTC and don't have a lot on psychiatric nursing experience. We have a resident that is very manipulative (has mild, fluctuating dementia) and is disrupting the unit as only a "borderline" person can. I realize that it is beyond my scope to be diagnosing her. I am finding it extremely difficult to obtain the resources to build a behaviour careplan for her. We really need to get a consistent approach in order to deal with her demands that we just cannot accomidate. I'm trying to set limits on her bahaviour and just end up feeling like a big meanie at the end of the day. There was a terrible outburst yesterday, and she's starting to get really verbally abusive towards staff and co-residents (we're talking about life-long coping skills here). I do have access to a psychiatrist, but want to work from the ground up before tweaking her meds anymore.
Do you have suggestions on how to properly deal with her? Are there sources on the net for free psyciatric care plans. I don't have access to any textbooks on psychiatric nursing right now.
Any advice would be welcome.