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Post by malkieh on May 24, 2011 21:19:40 GMT -5
now I understand and accept that I am in week 5, and have only really 2.5 weeks left.
I do NOT want to be a psyc nurse!! I am at the VA, and I am sooo uncomfortable!
Oh please let me keep my sanity, B"H it's only 5 hours.... But I am trying hard not to scream... I have to make sure to take a break..
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Post by achot on May 24, 2011 23:05:23 GMT -5
you're almost there, besides there is a bit of psych nursing in so many areas.
Enjoy!
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Post by chayan on May 24, 2011 23:29:03 GMT -5
Yaaay! I remember that feeling. Psych rotation was my last too. It wasn't that bad, but there were two frum patients that I kinda knew their families, and that was sort of uncomfortable for me.
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Post by malkieh on May 26, 2011 0:20:59 GMT -5
luckily for me there was a lice break out, woo hoo... I came home thinking I was having just a psychological, you know the patients itch so do I. Sadly my husband found eggs in my hair and on my sheitel..
I have to go back for 2 more weeks!!!! I am so freaked out!
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Post by bobbie613 on May 26, 2011 21:49:11 GMT -5
Dear Malkie, I am so sorry that you got lice. That's pretty awful. I can also understand that a psych nursing rotation is awkward for many nursing students. It's kind of scary not having "things" to do with patients. And, some patients' behavior is off, that is true.
I have been a psych nurse for years, I taught psych nursing and it is true that many patients outside of a psych unit have a mental health history. I don't know if this helps you, but hallucinations and delusions are produced in the person's brain. Sort of like a biochemical bad dream. Imagine if you were in a horror movie and couldn't leave?
I work in community mental health with formerly homeless, chronically mentally ill people. With consistent, loving care and guidance, the person can really make great strides. Sometimes, I compare being an inpatient psych nurse to being the world's best hostess (with therapeutic skills). If you treat the patient as if they were a guest in your home (good conversation, be polite and warm and offer help such as food/drink, etc.) and yet, we don't allow our guests to throw things, pour wine on the couch, etc. It is the same in the day room.
Greet the patient. Ask them about their day. Ask them what they do when they are out of the hospital. People like to talk about sports or politics. Ask them about their experience with other nursing students. Ask them what they find most helpful and what doesn't work. Or, just say, I would like to sit here for a while with you. Would that be ok? Play cards. Go to group. Ask the nurses what it is like to work in what is, in effect, a long term unit. You can tell the patient a little about being a nursing student (not too detailed).
And, not much longer, so good luck and I hope that the lice do not make themselves welcome in your home, your hair or your sheitel. What's nice about nursing is that there is always something for everyone.
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Post by malkieh on May 27, 2011 0:17:48 GMT -5
Oh I do not mind the therapeutic communication, and have found the clients to be fascinating.
B"H they find me nonjudgmental and easy to approach.
I am just angry that the ward did not warn us. Believe me I have tremendous respect for anyone that can do that day in and day out, i simply do not have that in me. Especially when my hair and sheitel end up with lice eggs, in it. Kind of put me over the edge!
2 more weeks...any suggestions on how to not get re-infested???
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Post by achot on May 27, 2011 4:07:47 GMT -5
2 funny (true ) stories One CNA got lice from a patients great granddaughter. there is no lice by us, but she thought the little girl was so cute, she put her on her lap (I dont encourage this) and read to her some books. THEN she noticed that the little cutie had cuties of her own. And she started scratching. Well from that day on the CNA came to work with a shower cap that she decorated. It looked terrible, we tried being open minded for a while till the trauma of getting lice passed and then got her to remove the ridiculous cap (I guess there is a bit of psych therapy in staff management as well...) Secondly Hadassah Ein Kerem brought the med students for the first time to the psych ward and gave them each a patient to interview (they were told to leave cellphones off the ward as it was contraindicated to some of the patients medical devices and if the phone rings it can created havoc). When they finished, the nurses were instructed not to let them out, but to treat them like patients and when they asked to be buzzed out, they were told to just calm down, they will soon get their pills, the next meal is on its way etc. As they complained and tried to explain, the nurses were more patient and calm and reassuring that the doctor will soon be around to see them, do they want a cigarette etc. This was to go on for a couple of hours. The students were going nuts. They ALL panicked and some screamed, threatened etc. It was HYSTERICAL/. I also read where in Zimbabwe a bus driver was insructed to bring 20 patients from the jail to the psych hospital. He got thirsty and stopped at a bar on the way and lo and behold, returned to find his bus empty (shocker) He was terrified of losing his job so he pulled up to the next busstop and offered those waiting a free ride home. He then delivered them to the psych ward and warned the guard there that this group is particularly delusional. THey were there for 3 days till the ruse was revealed and they were released. Can you imagine?  ? Hope I didnt offend anyone with these stories (they are true). SHabbat Shalom! |
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Post by chayan on May 27, 2011 10:43:50 GMT -5
While it may be a good exercise to sensitize doctors to what it's like to be on the other side, it sounds like a case of false imprisonment and grounds for a lawsuit. Maybe things are different in Israel...
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Post by achot on May 28, 2011 15:27:00 GMT -5
I guess the Israeli 'mentality" is less litigious. Nobody even considered it. Also, if they sue, they will be blacklisted from the better jobs. Besides, this is the kind of thing they can only pull once as they now that it was done.
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Post by chayan on May 28, 2011 23:49:07 GMT -5
Yeah, I can't see that ever going over too well in the US.
I completely agree with the point that much of the "disordered" behavior we see in the psych population is a direct result of being imprisoned. during my psych rotation there was one woman there who was in restraints just about every single day, because the staff either didn't want or didn't know how to de-escalate her without using restraints. Apparently she had phone privileges and when she would speak to her family members they would get into fights and she would become very agitated... so out came the restraints. Finally the doctor said no more restraints, and the staff should call him in if she gets out of hand.
BTW I was once writing a paper about bias (like confirmation bias, where we look for evidence to confirm what we already believe) and found a few examples of stories like this one. There was a woman who came to visit a relative in the psych ward. This relative was supposed to be transferred to a different hospital. Well, you guessed it, they came to pick her up and took the visitor instead. Of course she put up a huge fuss, so they just gave her tranquilizers, and every time she woke up they'd give her a higher dose. They didn't realize the mistake until they arrived at the other facility...
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