Comments | myrna_bird: LJ Idol Exhibit A Week 7 Honey Badger don't care!

myrna_bird

LJ Idol Exhibit A Week 7 Honey Badger don't care!

Mar 07, 2013 19:34

Code 99, 2 East! Code 99, 2 East!The urgent call blared over the intercom. Within seconds, staff from other floors keyed in to our locked unit to assist ( Read more... )

Comments 39

phoenixsansfyr March 9 2013, 01:48:51 UTC

Yeesh! My least favorite patients are some of the psych patients we end up with. That is a hellaciously rough aspect of medicine.

myrna_bird March 9 2013, 19:09:29 UTC

They can be very difficult,for sure. Thanks for commenting! :)

kittenboo March 9 2013, 03:46:06 UTC

Mental health issues are so tricky, and finding the right treatment, medication, therapy, etc can be so daunting. Thank you for helping me see it from an insiders perspective!

myrna_bird March 9 2013, 19:16:13 UTC

You're welcome.
Many times, throughout my career, I would have to remember what our Director in Nursing School taught us regarding ALL patient care:
"There, but for the grace of God, go I." She instilled that in all her students early on and it really helped to keep it in mind.

halfshellvenus March 9 2013, 05:16:28 UTC

It's interesting that abstractly, confinement seems like punishment, but used as a Quiet Room it allows the patient to calm down with the pressure of "hurrying it up."

The thought of letting the patient try to regain their own control wasn't something I'd heard of before, but I can see why that would be helpful to the patient on multiple levels-- short term and long term.

myrna_bird March 9 2013, 19:23:41 UTC

The Quiet Room was definitely a place for calming down, even if the patient wasn't overtly acting out. Often, patients would ask to go in on their own simply because they knew they were feeling like they needed a 'safe place' for a while. It was very rewarding work (and I learned a lot myself)to see patients come into the hospital and be educated and empowered to live their lives differently.

jensi08 March 10 2013, 02:16:54 UTC

I like the idea of a quiet room, actually. This was sad and well written and thank you for doing this job.

myrna_bird March 10 2013, 14:40:38 UTC

Thank you for reading. It was a long time ago that I worked there but writing it brought many memories up fresh for me.

theun4givables March 10 2013, 06:04:01 UTC

Sometimes the littlest thing can set someone off. I'm glad that she later calmed down and was apologetic for her outburst. I'm sure being terrified didn't help any. =/

myrna_bird March 10 2013, 14:43:37 UTC

Absolutely. It's the old flight or fight theory at work. :)