How to STAY SAFE while working in a Psych Ward
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ก.พ. 2023
- Intro music provided by BenSound.com
In this video, I'll be sharing my tips and personal experience on how to stay safe while working in a psych ward. As a psych nurse with over five years of experience working in various settings, including forensics, civil outpatient, and inpatient, I have learned valuable strategies to ensure my safety and the safety of my patients.
First and foremost, it's crucial to be respectful of patients and treat them as allies. Setting appropriate boundaries is also essential, and I'll be sharing some examples of how to do so tactfully. Additionally, imagining worst-case scenarios and knowing hospital policies and procedures are key to being prepared for unexpected situations.
It's also essential to trust your instincts and ask for advice from experienced staff when feeling unsure or unsafe. Bringing additional personnel, knowing safe areas, and prioritizing patient care are other ways to stay safe while working in a psych ward.
Lastly, I'll be sharing a personal story about being assaulted by a patient and highlighting the importance of taking steps to prevent such incidents. Overall, this video will provide valuable insights and strategies for anyone working in a psych ward.
![[TH] VCT Pacific Stage 2 - Week 2 Day 1 // RRQ vs TLN | DRX vs PRX](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_OWt_-Lu3AE/mqdefault.jpg)
I just started as a Custodian at a State Hospital. I am terrified but encouraged to stick with it.
I have never been more encouraged to hit the gym in my entire life! I am already physically active but definitely going to use the employee gym before I leave work to unwind and help me sleep. Work 3 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
i'm 14 and autistic, i think being a psych nurse for kids would be a good job oppertunity for me when i grow up because i am sensory oriented and always know my surroundings. i'm also good at giving clear instructions because they help me function well too.
Thank you for this video. I'm a new grad RN and just started in a behavioral health hospital. I felt overwhelmed after my training. When we learned self-defense and restraint maneuvers, someone asked how often we would realistically have to use them. They told us, "maybe not every day". Your experiences make me feel better. I'm going to keep an open mind. At least i have a panic button on my badge, but i hope i won't be assaulted every day.
Can you give us an update
Ohh this brought back memories! I was a nurse for 10 years in the locked wards of a state psych hospital. Was injured and in dangerous situations many times. So many of my coworkers had serious injuries….. in the state hospital, we had the worst of the worst patients. Meaning the most sick, the most dangerous.
Thanks for this video! I work in an inpatient unit, hearing your experience is really wonderful and helps me reflect on what I can do better. Also love your special guest appearance 🤣
I'm med/surg but got floated to psych once....so I think it's great you do these videos! You never know where you will end up! That being said...that's interesting what you said about the eyes....I've noticed that with dementia patients....it's like you could see them coming in and out of reality.
Love your videos!😊
Love your vids!
Great vid! So glad I found your channel. I'm a new nurse and I've been considering changing to psych since I've always been passionate and interested in it and because, regardless of my work setting and as a guy who gets along well with people and actually listens to patients, I almost always get assigned the patients that have the most psych issues. It's a repeated pattern that I've gotten report of how "awful" a patient is due to their psych diagnoses, but when I have them and I just listen and am honest with them, things go much better. There's such a stigma with psych that patients are often dismissed and demonized and don't get the care and consideration that they deserve.
lol this pretty much sums it up. . .listening goes a long way. Glad to hear you have patience :), thx for the comment.
Great video, and your kid is so cute!
Im starting in a psych ward next week...ur vids have helped tremendously
awesome boss! congrats and good luck
@@A_Psych_Nurse its been 2 weeks on the job and absolutely love it!!! Thanks man
@@tmc14121 sweeeeeet
@@tmc14121 What type of population are you working in psyche ? Like adults, adolescents, children ? Do you still like psyche ? Thanks
Good advice.❤
It's a huge shame. Nurses do their very best to help people. It's a pity this is destroyed by pharmaceutical companies who use nurses as their drug runners.
@ Doubil Troubil : very accurately described, thank you.
Honestly as a CNA working in the field you have to worry about the nurses more then the patients 😒
32 years experience as an RN in a state psychiatric hospital. Um, yeah, I could write a book.
I truly love my time as a behavioral technician. I did get bit and charged. I’ve seen urine and feces. I eventually had to leave due to an already decline in health. Standing 12hrs straight. 16 total in a day is a lot. I’m only 25.
But what set this job apart from others is the TEAM and safety training. This hospital was incredible with safety care and trauma informed care. You find your footing after a month or two. You will get those patients who make the environment tough. You’ll get the ones who engage in program a lot. Be ready for all types of days, good boring, long short, quiet and chaotic.
Everything here was perfect. Explore the behavior. What is the NEED under this behavior? Know your exits. Know patterns. Know the reports. Know your staffs style. Be HONEST if you feel like you can fully handle a conflict. Ask for help always.
Noti gang gang
I have been in a psychiatric hospital as a patient. I was more dangerous to myself than others. I hated it when people acted fearful of me or treated me like I was a criminal.
Because my former profession was health care. I am a Navy veteran and was a Corpsman. I have 18 years experience in a variety of health care technician jobs. I have been a care giver to psychiatric patients .
I got burned out and had a lot of depression and anxiety. I think health care workers need to do a lot of self care to avoid burn out. When you stop caring for yourself it affects the care you give your patients.
A state hospital forensic unit is different than a community or private psychiatric hospital . Some nurses and staff treat everyone like they are psycho. It can be infuriating .
Safety is important for staff as well as patients. Building trust goes a long way.
Thanks for your videos, I'm a new grad working inpatient psych. I'm in orientation, so far witnessed a lot of escalating events. We had a patient that was spitting on staff and biting. Staff had no facial shields or spitting mask for the patient. I thought it was odd to not have any of these supplies. How would you feel about it? What do you think could be done?
yikes! Yes spitters are some of the worst :(.
Here's how i'd handle it. . .I'd go up to the patient (maybe bring security w/ you if you don't feel comfortable solo), I'd bring them some PRNs and say "Sorry you're feeling mad, I got some meds for you to help with your agitation. --Hand them 50mLs of water and the meds (less water for them to chuck at you)--. then once they're done taking the meds I'd say, "And here's a paper cup for you if you feel like you need to spit. Let me know when you need another cup. Anything else we can get for you?"
may or may not work. . .probably should have face shields and at a minimum eye protection. I once brought a paper plate w/ me to protect myself if they looked like they were going to spit.
Honestly though with spitters, if I get spit on, I *TRY* not to show it irritates the hell outta me (I always have my glasses on so there's a little protection there), block it w/ my paper plate, and then I would just say, "please spit in the cup when you feel a need to spit."
technically it's assault and disgusting, esp. considering the lack of dental hygiene/high probability of them have contagious diseases. . .so I guess there's some personal preference here as to how you want to handle it. Definitely DON'T put yourself in harms way though if my above suggestion doesn't sit well w/ you. Hospital should have PPE + shields + transport hoods (spit hoods) imho if they are going to accept patients who spit. Also I would document you attempted to don PPE but none was available.
hope this helps. . .sometimes they're ain't good solutions :(
@@A_Psych_Nurse thank you for your response and advice. I appreciate you😊 Sadly the facility doesn't have any supplies for us to use. I do try my hardest to stay out the way when pts escalate. I can say Psych is a totally different world and I find it fascinating to experience these different psychotic disorders. To be truthful Im not sure if psych is for me or not. I came from medsurg, so it's a hard transition for me. I'm going to give myself more time to decide. I do enjoy talking to pts and being their support. Most of my pts enjoy me and even the aggressive ones they tend to stay calm with me so far lol Thanks again for your videos their extremely helpful♥️
@@Cherellecoaching222 I am considering working at a psych hospital-- just wondering how your experience of the situation has changed since you last commented here?
I don't know about your facility, but all of us have radios that we are always in contact with each other for help, or locating people.
We have this in the prison system but not in any of the mental health places I've worked---typically many of us would find us scrambling for the number to security lol.
😂😂🤣,,,,,im a psych nurse too here in Zambia,,,,,,, as a psych nurse ,,, one of the qualities you need to have is patience,,,,
Can I ask you a few questions
Please
@@nickr9019 oh yeah,,, go ahead
@@ngwenya1441 What will happen to a patient if that person defended themselves form someone trying to cause assault and what if that person accidentally hurt them because they were trying to defended themselves?
@@ngwenya1441 1 why do some people in the mental hospital get chained up?
2 if I go to a mental hospital does that mean I will be chained up?
3 What if someone or I is afraid (terrified) of being in restraints?
4 how can someone get themselves out of restraints by staff and not be place back in them in the future?
Pro tip: stand at the intersection of the two hallways
Aww is that your son in the end? 🥰
as far as I know. . .=P
Can you give me some tips on how you passed nursing school ? I need to get my grade up. Did you just do practice questions and reading? Thank you.
Well if you REALLY wanna kill it, do this.
Read the important points in the chapter prior to the lecture (I usually start w/ the summary, then read the first sentence of every paragraph to give me a general idea of what's going on, then i'll give a more detailed reading the 2nd time around, but only on stuff that seems to matter).
Then find a few youtube videos on related topics and watch them prior to lecture. Then go to lecture, and ask professor what's the best way to study for exam. Follow their advice (they should tell you what to focus on), and then make flash cards using spaced repetition to study (I suggest downloading Ankii on your phone). BAM. Ez. (Just takes persistence + diligence I think).
Hope that helps :)
@@A_Psych_Nurse thank you 😊
Had a horrible day at the psych hospital today. A patient had an altercation with me about something I couldn’t fix & as always the techs weren’t present. It’s getting to be too much. I like my job in every other aspect but safety. I (along with some of my coworkers) have tried to express our concerns regarding this yet nothing has changed.
I just want to know what else could be done. Use a suggestion box? Speak to a higher up? Report these incidents through RL?
Hmm. . .I'd probably start a documentation trail. Report your concerns to supervisors, and then document the conversation you had and their response, and ask them on what ideas they have for improving the situation. Requires quite a bit of tact and objectivity of course.
If they appear flippant, I'd leave and find another facility.
Got a question, are stab-vest allowed for personnel to use?
sounds hardcore lol. If it doesn't have metal in it, probably. If you don't have to go thru metal detection then I'm sure you could wear it under a shirt.
What about staying safe for patients? When in hospital, was told to remain in my room for several hours. I needed to urinate. I was told there was absolutely no way I could be allowed to walk to the bathroom. This was in a so-called rehab unit. Will be writing advanced care directive stating my wish not to be held in a hospital the next time I become delusional. The thought of going back there fills me with dread.
Great question Kim--I always thought about this myself when we were trained to keep each other safe, esp. when we had an aggressive patient. I guess in the back of my mind though I was always thinking to keep myself just as safe as the patients and vice versa if that makes sense. (e.g., if staff locks themselves behind a door b/c of patient aggression and that same patient goes into another patient's room, you can bet your bottom dollar I'm going in there as well :)
@@A_Psych_Nurse it is much more lax here in Australia. There is a lot wrong with the treatment of people who are going through emotional difficulties. People do not stay irrational for long time periods unless they're seeking refuge from abusive situations, which is often the reason for the episode in the first place. There is so much misinformation presented as truth by the psychiatric profession. This is because there is more to gain by saying someone has a lifelong problem for which they will need medicating & support & state interference in their lives, for the rest of their lives. There are vested interests making big money from the selling of meds & services to so called long-term mentally ill. Unfortunately, as long as there is money to be made, people will continue to be doped up to the eyeballs & controlled against their will, with the excessive meds causing more problems than they fix. There is a talk by a Dr Lionel Corbett : Jung's Approach to Treatment of Psychosis...on TH-cam. In it he tells the truth of both the causes & beneficial treatment of schizophrenia symptoms...and it is recommended that a very low dose of meds be used. There are too many people doped up & not allowed to recover once the system has them in its clutches. Here in Australia a person can be given a lifelong pension & free health care & even low cost housing if they agree to be medicated & go along with the psychiatric narrative. We are in the dark ages here ..people are massively overweight & doped up to the eyeballs ...people's physical health suffers greatly, as you've talked about in previous videos. I cannot recommend strongly enough the Dr Lionel Corbett video mentioned above. Thank you for being an independent thinker. We need you !
i hadone staff saying to me, as she organized the money efter buying cigarettes for me, "if you sign here, your soul will be mine". thats kind of provocative. i wanted to answer "i knew you were a witch", but then i'd probably get belted. so i just answered "ya" and the other staff laughed at me.
So, have you concidered that maybe the nurse in question was trying to enjoy a joke with you? But got it wrong, it was just a bad joke?
It's so important to reflect, the possibility is that the other stuff member laughed WITH you rather than at you.
Either way, I hope that you're doing better now than then, good luck!!!
So wait I have a lot of questions about your story?
1 why do some people in the mental hospital get chained up?
2 if I go to a mental hospital does that mean I will be chained up?
3 What if someone or I is afraid (terrified) of being in restraints?
4 how can someone get themselves out of restraints by staff and not be place back in them in the future?
they use bed restraints now far as i know. and people have died from use of restraints. also.many elderly in old folks homes are dying due to a plethora of restraint problems.
go to court and get a broad reaching all encompassing order against it. or have written documentation of your affidavit against violation of your rights submit to local clerk and post and have copies in sensible place or on your person. you are a living man not a ward of the state. claim your rights.
1). excessive agitation/hostility to the point where the only way to keep themselves, staff and other patients safe is physical restraint
2). Nope! restraint is often RARELY used
3). your personal preference/proclivity to trauma from being restrained won't be considered unfortunately
4). after your restrained, staff needs to let you know 1). why you are restrained, and 2). what needs to happen for you to be let off of restraints. And then for the last part of your question I'd just review the hospital's policies regarding use of restraints and see how to avoid the kind of behavior that gets you into them.
hope this helps, thx for the questions :)
@@A_Psych_Nurse can you please explain the third one a little bit more
@@A_Psych_Nurse also can they just take them to a paded room instead of being restrained to a bed
(Question for a situation that could be possible) What will happen to a patient if that person defended themselves form someone trying to cause assault and what if that person accidentally hurt them because they were trying to defended themselves?
that sounds like what the psych ward tried to pull on me while i was in a blackout self defense state after being ambushed by twelve people who were trying to hurt me and pulled at my body. i was brutally attacked and my rights violated and they wanted me to admit that i was violent so that they could permanently commit me. they LIED ABOUT SO MANY THINGS straight to my face and my husbands face.
you defend yourself. SELF DEFENCE IS SELF DEFENCE. We have rights to.bodily autonomy and to defend from being harmed.
@@JCRastafari oh wow, sorry to hear that (also just curious I may be labeled as someone who may have some form of special needs just asking if I have a care giver and if I am ever am in there should/will they let me out or held me there permanently?) Also I've recently beaten a cancerous tumor called non-hodgkin lymphoma cell b and went through chmeo therapy (I'm 22)
@@JCRastafari I'm black belt at Taekwondo (slight bit delayed) is that situation different?
@@JCRastafari a lot of times I have what if questions or sometimes I feel better when I have solutions to the question
@A Psych Nurse Has anyone ever escaped restraint during your time nursing? Apparently I escaped restraint during a blackout episode while suffering Post Injection Delerium Sedation Syndrome and nearly going into hypothermia some time after being physically and chemically restrained... I escaped full bed restraint. ahahaha how!?!?
wow that's crazy--yeah I've never seen anyone escape restraints and if theyre applied properly i'd say it's impossible.
(really depends on what kinds of restraints are used though as different hospitals use different restraints, and there's certainly some that seem more escapable than others).
if you had PIDSS I would think they'd remove the restraints and send you to the ER.
Is it legal for a Psych hospital to not have cameras, security, on person alarms and discharge patients to homeless shelters?
I would say probably. Would be very surprised if they didn't have at a minimum security cameras though. Also we discharge people all the time to homeless shelters and of the streets.
The streets is really a last option but for some of our peeps that's where they want to go :)
If a patient ask the name of the medication that they are taking will the name be given out to them?
yes it has to be :). you have a RIGHT to know what medication you're taking my friend.
@@A_Psych_Nurse thanks and does that include involuntarily
@@A_Psych_Nurse can i become a mental health nurse with a barchelor in social work
@@tilanmbugua yes but you'd have to go thru an accelerated nursing program. they range from 12-24 months long or so
@@nickr9019 ofcourse
In your experience, does it seem that male nurses are less at risk, more at risk, or similarly at risk, for assault by patients than female or nonbinary nurses?
(To rephrase: given the same approach-- ie, if a nurse interacts with a patient using the exact same words, body language, and sense of empathy-- do you think the nurse's gender plays a role in how the patient typically reacts to the nurse?).
Hope that makes sense..
Yeah I think it matters--there's sometimes when patients prefer male or female nurse, and I also think it depends on tone. So I think as long as the tone is sincere, generally it doesn't matter the sex of the nurse, assuming the patient doesn't have a strong preference of course.
I'd say female nurses are definitely more at risk of assault--i don't have any research on this just a hunch.
You can do all this and still be attacked for no rhyme or reason. Nursing is tough. You're called names, things thrown at you, spit on, you can be physically or S assaulted. If the facility doesn't have enough safety protocols and staff, DO NOT WORK THERE.
Title should read how to be safe as a patient in a psych ward against evil nurses etc. They start the problems, very untactful..
Was in the ER once with someone else and the confrontational attitude was really disturbing. Bark a command to put on a gown and the response to “I don’t want to wear that” was bring in 2 guys with tasers to block the door telling them you’ll get out of your clothes voluntarily or not. The person didn’t shout, get agitated just was reluctant and needed a minute. The problem was 100% escalated by the staff.. Not the only one that night either. You know what worked and was quicker than tasers? Talking to them like a human being instead of a dog. I’d never leave a loved one there alone.
@@deborahzaccarohoffman4139 Sorry to hear, I have been through similar instances when I needed comfort and care most after painful suic---- event. most of these employees have no compassion.
I'm sorry you had that experience
This moosh gives me the creeps.