u/ylimethor

Curious how your units work with scheduling. Most places I've worked at have either been self schedule, or outpatient jobs with set days. Easy, simple.

My current job is neither of those things. Our DON makes our schedules. She refuses to give ANY set shifts. Not even 1 predictable shift a week. The most she will do is accommodate ONE "request" per week, and that's not even guaranteed. So if I have 2 appointments one week, or any other obligation, it's not guaranteed that I can make it to both. Also everyone's position is "rotating" meaning we work days and evenings. She tries to accommodate everyone's preferences for either days OR evenings, but she has the power to schedule you for either shift, because "it's a rotating position."

I work part time, 24 hrs, three 8's. I sat down with her and asked for atleast ONE set shift per week, so I can plan for childcare. She refused. Nope. I have one child starting kindergarten, one child starting parttime preschool. Husband works fulltime, my parents and in-law help but they all work and have lives. Wtf? How does anyone hire a babysitter..."hey I'm looking for a sitter, but no idea what days or times! I'll let ya know!" Like what?? My DON is literally 80 years old and could care less about anything I expressed to her. Crazy that she won't even attempt to work with her staff and help us a tiny bit.

EDIT: THANK YOU! I am loving all this input! I thought I was the only sane person, wondering WTF this bullshit is!!!! I haven't been at this job very long and I really wanted to stick it out but this shit is annoying and exhausting as a busy mom of 2 little ones. We shall see.

I've been a nurse for over 7 years but I'm brand new to psych. Doing inpatient adult psych. I've only been off my (short) orientation for 3 months. I get sooo anxious before going to work and while at work. I'm on the quieter side, I hate confrontation. I definitely have the ability to laugh at things and let them roll off my shoulders and I never take anything personally. But when I know a patient is aggressive, confrontational, rude, unstable, super delusional, etc... I get VERY anxious. Sometimes I have no idea how to respond. Other nurses are so good at "shutting it down" or putting up boundaries, not taking anyone's shit. There's 3 other nurses with me at the med window so I feel like every interaction with patients is on display for them to watch and I just feel so awkward sometimes.

I love psych for many different reasons & I like the job itself. Will I ever get more comfortable interacting with unstable people and get a tougher skin, or is this just not a personality match? I'm sick of being so, so anxious about work all the time. I think about it so much, even when I'm not at work.

I'm an RN, new to inpatient adult psych. My facility is well-known and has a really great reputation. Safety-wise, it's amazing. Staff and security are awesome. But over the last 6+ months I guess there's been changes with management & lately the unit is becoming more and more acute each day. And more people with complex medical histories too.

My shifts lately have been super crazy and busy, like to an unmanageable degree. Mostly with documentation, multiple med passes, medical stuff, and just the acuity of the unit in general. During a typical day shift, I bareellyyy have enough time to finish all my documentation, tasks, meds, check in with all my patients, etc. on a SMOOTH ordinary shift. Nevermind when anything goes wrong, an agitated patient, a code, a restraint, a needy patient who needs to be redirected 500x, a medical issue, discharges/admissions, new orders, whatever else may happen. It's insane. Right now my team of patients includes 2 patients with fingersticks and insulin before meals, extremely heavy AM med pass, and almost all my patients get meds again at 2pm, 5pm....? Stuff like wound care, ear drops QID, random things that end up making my shift SO busy and constant without 1 second to breathe. Sometimes I can barely speak with a patient for longer than a minute.

Just wondering if this is typical of an inpatient psych unit, because I have nothing to compare it to. I know medical floors are insanely busy and impossible for nurses, but I guess I thought psych would be busy in a different way.