Therapeutic Communication

Well, my mental health rotation is underway. I have been assigned to a community mental health hospital that serves several counties. It has an adult psych floor and a gero-psych floor. Both locked units. Oddly enough, I am completely comfortable on gero-psych and terrified to be on the 2nd floor(adult psych). The thought of approaching a client, establishing some level of a relationship, and then delving intro therapeutic communication freaks me right about out.

Kudos to any of you who chose mental health nursing. I would be fascinated to hear your stories and learn more about what attracted you to this profession.

My job is going well. I really enjoy the patients and their families and I enjoy spending time doing little things like brushing someones hair or chatting with a resident about his service in the war. Its a bit frustrating to pass all those meds, but it goes by quickly and I am finding that I do in fact have time to spare and spend with my residents. I am so blessed to have this job.

Mental Health Nursing

The midnight shift wasn't too bad, much less med passing than 1st and 2nd shift, which was nice. I also got quite a few chapters in my new Michael Crichton book, Next, read! : ) I was surprised at how many night owls there were among the residents.

So mental health, (nursing 260) starts Tuesday. My aunt, oddly enough, co-authored the text. I know I shouldn't be nervous but I'm discovering I really am. Its like a whole new sub-language I need to learn as a psych nurse. To be honest I have some stereotypes I will need to overcome in order to give myself over to really learning this stuff. It should be an interesting 8 weeks.

Ill keep ya posted!

My first midnight shift as an LPN

OK, I'm back. The holidays, kids, studying, new job...got the best of my time.

So tonight I start my first midnight shift. To be honest I'm not sure how this will work. I can't consume caffeine so I thought I might try and take a nap today to "rest up" for my shift, no such luck. My body complained about all the chores that could be getting done, so I relented and did them.

How do people do this? Especially now that most shifts are 12's which means you are only working three a week. I mean, doesn't your body freak out having to switch back and forth?

The other thing that is weird is staying up in order to go to work. Usually by now I'm heading for bed. Strange, very strange.

My awesome hubby would much rather be watching the BCS game from the comforts of his Serta, but he is staying up until I leave, how sweet is that?