Essential Workers?

[MossRoad]

Yikes! My daughter just took a nursing job in the Mental Health unit at the local hospital!

It takes a special person to help people on that level. Keep an eye on her over the coming years. Some people are very good at dealing with it, but some, like my grandma I'm told, brought it home. I know things were different 'back then', but everything is different from yesterday, no matter what generation.

We have a good family friend who's daughter is an ER nurse. I was talking to her at her wedding a few months ago. She said it may sound horrible, but by being in the ER, you don't get time to get attached to your patients. While it's hard to lose one, you don't have that personal connection that long term care nurses get with their patients. She was quite honest about it. Didn't think she could do that at this point in her life. Maybe when she gets older.

 

[MossRoad]

My first memorable experience with mental health issues was when I was maybe 8 years old. Our Cub Scout troop went to a nursing home to sing Christmas Carols in the halls. While most of the residents were quite nice, one started screaming at us, jumped out of bed, came out of their room and chased us down the hall. I mean a major tantrum. Foul language, threats, arms waving around. I remember us running one way while a bunch of white coats ran the other. They grabbed them and forced them back into the room screaming and closed the door. We had to leave. We could hear the screaming the whole way out of the building. It was kinda traumatizing for a little kid. I went home and talked to my parents about it. Remember it to this day.

 

[Jstpssng]

It takes a special person to help people on that level. Keep an eye on her over the coming years. Some people are very good at dealing with it, but some, like my grandma I'm told, brought it home. I know things were different 'back then', but everything is different from yesterday, no matter what generation.

We have a good family friend who's daughter is an ER nurse. I was talking to her at her wedding a few months ago. She said it may sound horrible, but by being in the ER, you don't get time to get attached to your patients. While it's hard to lose one, you don't have that personal connection that long term care nurses get with their patients. She was quite honest about it. Didn't think she could do that at this point in her life. Maybe when she gets older.

An ER nurse I knew many years ago told me that most people last a few years then move on. It takes a certain kind of person to be able to handle that and not bring it home. A coworker was a psych ward nurse in a previous life... another area with a high burnout rate. He’s told some general stories without violating patient confidentiality; nothing I would care to deal with.

 

[ultrarunner]

72 hour hold describes a lot in the psyche facility... they get picked up, cleaned up, rested and out the door...

 

[Gator6x4]

My most memorable experience involving mental illness was when I was working years ago. Got a go and interview so and so in reference to.......

I arrived at the given address no one at home. Checked with neighbors and one of the neighbors said they had heard they were in the local hospital. I proceeded to the local hospital and walked up the the front desk and asked the woman if, and provided the persons name was a patient. She advised yes they are in room and provided the room number.

I got on the elevator and punched the floor number corresponding to the room number. I got off the elevator and walked down the hallway where a person dressed in a nurses uniform was sitting behind a window. I showed the person my credentials and informed her I would like to speak to and provided the persons name. She advised just a moment she picked up the phone and called someone. When she hung up the phone she advised the doctor said it would be alright and pressed a buzzer to let me through a door. She then directed me down a hallway to a room.

I spent 30-40 minutes on the interview and left the persons room. A personnel shift change had occurred while I was doing the interview. I walked up to the woman at the desk and asked her to unlock the door so I could leave. She looked at me and replied yes you would and so would the rest of the people back there.

It was then I realized I was in the Mental Treatment ward at the local hospital. Bottom line she called her supervisor who had to come and look at my credential also before i could get them to unlock the door and let me out.

Of course when I got back to the office and told what had happened. They told me they should have kept me.

 

[MossRoad]

My mother in-laws mom had dementia. She was in a dementia ward of a nursing home for about 8 years. In a nutshell, it's what you described. Could only get onto or off of that floor with a key code. Key code was changed daily. There were about 60 rooms on that floor. The patients were free to roam around that floor, but could not get out. She had men coming into her room at night several times. Fortunately, no ****** assaults took place, but they'd come in there while we were visiting and say crude stuff and just sit there staring at her. It was pretty scary. The nurses were very kind as far as we could tell.

My grandmother was in her mid 90s recovering from a broken hip in a nursing home. The nurses in that one were not nice. She told us some stories about how they'd treat the ones that couldn't stand up for themselves. My dad butted into her roommates treatment and called the authorities based on some things he saw happen to the roommate. We got grandma out of there ASAP for fear of retaliation.

 

[Alan W.]

Gator, I had a supervisor that transferred in to the local plant. We had an employee in the hospital that the super was going to go see after work on second shift.
There was no one at the desk after hours so he got on the elevator and went to the floor he assumed the employee was on.
When he got off the elevator he was in a small room with one door which was locked and the elevator closed behind him. No buttons to call the elevator only a place for a key.
He had got out on the psych ward by accident and since it was after hours he ended up stuck there until they made rounds.