What do you do in the nursing station in your down time?

Specialties Psychiatric

Published

Mental health nursing does have its down time, even when I worked general acutes there was still lots of free time compared to our cousins in med/surg nursing.

So dig deep and share what activity you undertake most often at work in the nursing station that is not directly related to your nursing practice.

As I started this dodgy post I guess I need to get the ball rolling.

1)Reading the newspaper (that's a pychnurse's right of passage IMO)

2 )Browsing left over womans magazines e.g womans weekly, womans day. WHO weekly is my fav.

3) The internet. hmmm. Having two windows open, one on a nursing site the other on cheap airfares to a tropical island.

Just a few that come to mind.

Looking at it from another angle what have I seen people working on in the nursing. Knitting always makes me laugh. Getting paid to knit at a psych hospital (never on a day shift, more afternoons and nights). Crosswords is the other.

Cheers

Look forward to laughs from your replies.

Be honest and hope your charge nurse doesn't identify you in this forum :)

We all know that night shift can be pretty quiet after everyone's in bed. It doesn't take everyone staff member to do every room check every 15 minutes. Anyway...

We read, play games on our phones, talk (quietly of course), etc. One particularly annoying girl likes to play with the broken wheelchair that goes in circles, but I think she's a bit excessive. :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
We all know that night shift can be pretty quiet after everyone's in bed. It doesn't take everyone staff member to do every room check every 15 minutes. Anyway...

We read, play games on our phones, talk (quietly of course), etc. One particularly annoying girl likes to play with the broken wheelchair that goes in circles, but I think she's a bit excessive. :)

LOL LOL LOL....love the wheelchair comment. Oh, the images that are going through my mind...thanks for the laugh!!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych.

When I do get down time, I like to read, surf the net, or talk w/my coworkers. I work 12 hour shifts so my first 4-6 hours are usually pretty busy so it's nice to chill out for a while before waking everyone up. If some patients happen to get up, I'll talk to them until they get bored or tired and go back to bed. Now that I'm back in school, I love the downtime since I can get my studying/assignments done. I've never knitted at work for fear that a patient would try to take the needles and stab me with them (I don't sit in the nsg. station, I'm out on the unit). It's happened w/inkpens before so I don't press my luck!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

A patient tried to stab me with a crayon once. Everyone laughed at me when I refused to get near her after that. I don't care if it was a crayon! You should have seen the look in her eyes. Geez... We don't let them have pens.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in behavioral health.

When I worked in psych facility, I never had down time. In fact, the time really flew by. We were involved with the patients when we didn't pass meds. I am an LPN and we assisted the mental health techs, as well as pass meds. Even working nights, the paper work was enough to keep you quite busy. I preferred it that way, or the night would drag on. Although, one time I picked up a midnight shift and was reading. I was to monitor pt. outside of their room. Unfortunately, I found myself dozing off. I vowed to never work midnights monitoring pts., as that would be a great way to get fired, if you fall asleep.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Night shift highlights: Of course the newspaper! If we are not busy with admissions, I usually try to organize and clean the nursing station. (I know, OCD, right?lol) I also try to restock supplies. If there is absolutely nothing to clean, I will get caught up on my online CEUs. We talk quietly, read books or magazines. Play videos on our phones- funny ones like America's funniest videos. You have to have a sense of humor to work psych- sometimes it gets too serious and your down time should be refreshing.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in mental health, military nursing.

When I'd work nights I'd bring a book with me. Days and evenings? It's rare to even get a bathroom break! Now that I do mainly office/paper work, I count myself fortunate that I can squeeze in some homework between my other responsibilities...

Up Vote Up Vote ×

As a Ψ RN for the Sate of Californai in one of their State Hospital (ASH), I have no down time whatsoever. If I do my job as required, there is not enough time in the day, even in a 12 hour shift, to complete everything. I spend that vast majority of my time in a 12 hrs shift (0630 - 1900) on the computer "treating the charts" so the heads hochos of the California DMH will be happy and the U.S. Dept. of Justice will tell us "Good Job" . Less treatment for the patients and more treatment of the charts "! We're "Cyber Nurses" not Registered Nurses, :jester:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in psych, addictions, hospice, education.

line dancing and wheelchair races in the hallway....

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

Usually I sit there shocked that I have down time to actually be sitting there :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych..

On days and evenings, I rarely get down time. When I do, I like to go out into the milieu and check in with the patients. Sometimes I'll start a team-effort crossword puzzle, or participate in a board or card game.

On overnights, I like to chat with my coworkers. I'm sometimes seen as too serious, so it helps me build rapport with my fellow nurses and the techs I work with. I work with a supportive team and I want to keep it that way.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Mattress surfing...shhh.... :rolleyes:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment