Starting a forensic psychiatric job in a maximum security center as a new grad. ANY TIPS?

ForensicPsychNurse · Feb 6, 2016

Well I am working for the state and the job description is very general. From the interview the nurses said I will be working with another nurse on the floor and the ratio can be 1 nurse:25 patients. Also, the job involves medication administration, blood draws, I believe we also do ECT, leading seminars and more. I think also coordinating with the legal system will be an integral part of my job. Many of our patients arrive straight from a nearby jail system. Also many of my patients have been in the institution for 15 or more years.

hawaiicarl, BSN, RN · Feb 6, 2016

Soap on a rope ....

Pie plate tied to your waist with string ...

Nothing they say is the truth ....

Just the usual prison advice!

Cheers

deleern · Feb 7, 2016

Pay attention to the rules. they are there for a reason. If someone yells duck! do it ...lol I have been a Psyc nurse on an acute inpatiant unit for 5 years. Love every Min.

Zedrek · Feb 7, 2016

I would have to disagree with not reading up on their crimes. I was working at Atascadero State Hospital here in California and the story that I heard was that a patient once told a nurse that she reminded him of his daughter which sounds innocent enough unless you read his file and seen that he raped and killed his daughter. If you are going to hold their crimes against them then perhaps forensic nursing isn't a good fit. The two times that I've done CPR was on inmates at a prison I was working at. They were both child molesters. One lived and one died. My conscious was clean either way. :up:

MMC.RN · Feb 7, 2016

I am not saying that you shouldn't have an idea as to the nature of the crime. We get brief synopsis as to their history and background prior to their admission and their reason for admission. I just don't feel it's relevant for me to know how many times they stabbed their family member or the nitty gritty details. I personally don't let it affect the way I direct care but I've known some that it does, especially if it reminds you of a situation in your own life. We are actually discouraged by management from reading their whole charts. We know the necessary details in order to administer care and everything else is superfluous.

Psychcns · Feb 7, 2016

Interesting. I think you have to read enough about their crimes to be able to do your job. For me diagnosing and treating extreme pathology involves studying the record and asking them about their crime and how they feel about it now at every evaluation. For people who don't need to know this, asking about it would be an invasion of privacy. So I think management would give you direction on this. I did like working with this challenging population as a provider.

MMC.RN · Feb 8, 2016

I believe I am more than well versed about their background, criminal history, and current crime to do my job more than adequately. I am more than willing to listen if they want to talk about their history and how they are feeling and give me details but most of our patients are actively psychotic and extremely ill and taking care of that along with my other duties takes up most of my day. Its not as if I don't make a point of asking patient's how they are feeling. I do a lot of patient education regarding mental illness and general coping techniques along with anger management as well as medication administration and compliance to attempt to stabilize them as much as possible, but we deal mostly with assessment and competency. The therapy comes when they are admitted as NGRI's and are long-term patients. Our patients are typically short-term and we have a fairly high turnover. I typically don't have the time to read the 35-40 pages of history and documentation that comes along with their chart. Sometimes it is even more. I read the relevant information in those 35-40 pages and rely on the psychiatrist documentation and admission assessments which are slightly more condensed and provide a great overview.

ForensicPsychNurse · Feb 8, 2016

So you guys have any literature or notes suggestions?

MMC.RN · Feb 9, 2016

The APNA has a lot of research articles that you may find useful, I've included the link down below.

Forensic Psychiatric Nursing Resources - American Psychiatric Nurses Association.

I also enjoyed The Complete Guide to Psychiatric Drugs: A Straight Talk for Best Results by Edward Drummond. It talks about all the different disorders and how prescribers go about prescribing meds, the side effects, what to watch for etc...It's a bit easier to read and gives more information and is a lot more interesting than a drug book in my opinion. However I am interested in becoming an APNP in the future so I am very interested in that topic. It may not be your cup of tea, but I do recommend that you brush up on your psych meds and become familiar with them in addition to reviewing your psychiatric disorders. If you still have your textbook that may be a good resource.

I am also subscribed to the Psychiatric Times. It's free and all you have to do is google it. It has a lot of good information about new treatment modalities that are available and research being done. It can prove to be useful at times and is very interesting.

I hope this is what you are looking for. If not just let me know!

ForensicPsychNurse · Feb 9, 2016

Thank you so much this was awesome! I appreciate it! If I have any other questions I'll drop you a DM!