What are your positive experiences working with children/adolescents in a Psych unit?

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Oct 22, 2008

I enjoyed working in adult psych better. The child/adolescent psych unit involved children with histories of sexual abuse, neglect, parental drug addiction, prenatal drug exposure, and so forth. The whole situation was sad. To be perfectly blunt, I did not see many positive aspects of working in child psych.

lpnflorida · Oct 23, 2008

Many years ago. I would guess it to be roughly 20 years ago. I met a young lady who had suffered severe abuse of everything you can imagine and perhaps you would rather not even think about by various family members.

She was a frequent flyer on our unit from roughly the ages of 14-17. I worked with her frequently. She once had escaped from our unit, a few days later I received a phone call at the nursing station from this young lady. She was crying , she asked me if I would come get her and bring her back to the hospital. I talked it over with my head nurse and the social worker and it was agreed that I could do it. She ended up being sent to a long term facility out of the area.

A few weeks later I had heard from her mother that she had tried to hang herself. She was cut down, and sent to the ICU unit. it was touch and go for sometime. She sustained a hypoxic traumatic brain injury. Her future remained very uncertain even if she would survive.

This young lady did survive. Through additional therapy she slowly started coming back. A couple years went by. One day I received a phone call at home. It was this same young lady, now a young adult.

We talked for sometime. She told me she was enrolled in the local college to become a nurse. She talked of the years we had known each other and how she wanted to become a nurse because of the role model I had been to her. She did become a nurse. Later I was invited to her wedding which I attended. She made all the years I worked in psychiatry worth it.

I have not seen nor heard from her in many many years. But I believe she is still nursing and giving back to others with her personal story.

prowlingMA · Oct 23, 2008

Thank you lpnflorida-

My sister is a foster mom to a kid that is in a psych. facility right now. Your story gives me such hope for her.

This poor 6 year old was drug exposed, sexually abused, and has some global developemental disabilities. All 5 kids from the family are in foster care. 2 with my sister.

I can't image what you see everyday working with these kids. You guys are awesome.

scribblerpnp · Oct 23, 2008

I've worked child and adolescent psych as well as adult and I liked the child/adolescent better.

Mainly I do better with peds because I have more empathy/patience. With kids, usually it isn't their fault, they have had a traumatic experience due to some adult screwing them up in one way or another. So I don't have any anger issues towards them like I would have with the non-psychotic adult psych pts. (The PARENTS on the other hand..... but they weren't there that much at least) Psychotics I am OK with and can do well with the empathy, the drug abuse, gen depression and bi-polar or personality disorders I don't care for much.

The major downside with peds is you can see them in some kind of cycle that is difficult to break and how at times it feel slike they don't have a chance of ever being normal. It is hard to D/C them back home in some cases putting them in basically the same environment they were in prior to admission.

I did work on a teen rehab unit, and while some went back to using, I am fairly confident that it did work for many. One of the grads is now living on her own and going to college, so that story so far has a happy ending.

BUT at the same time, they are still kids and still need kid activities. So it was nice to be able to offer then some sort of "normal" life and stability while they were inpt's. But often times I worried or thought about them post D/C more than the adults.

It isn't for everyone. The biggest + for peds/adolescent psych for me was the increased ability to empathize.

HappyPediRN · Oct 23, 2008

I just started on a pedi psych unit that admits children 4-16 years old. It is the best thing I have ever done. I never saw myself as a psych nurse but I can't believe how fast time flies and at the end of my shift I don't want to leave...even with the crises, the extremely careful documentation, several admits and discharges all at once, the hustle and bustle of four disciplines crowded in one small nurses station, and the covering doc who has zero business working with children. I LOVE it.