Getting back in the saddle again

I am sorry you experienced this.....it is a shame that your employer did nothing to comfort you and ease your fears. I hope the bite wasn't serious for human bites can be nasty.The worst bite I have ever seen was while I was supervisor and an ED patient bit one of the nurses...he took skin and spit it on the floor...I shudder at the memory.I wish you the best on your new journey!

The bite was not particularly severe but the situation that precipitated this was pretty scary. The nursing station was not enclose and there were two open doorways in. An extremely agitated patient found herself behind the nursing station and was impossible to re-direct. Some was drawing up PRNs because it was way too late to consider PO medication. It took security forever to respond. No one was able to put the patient in any sort of mechanical "hold" or restraint and she lunged at me. Another staff was hit by the patient and while the patient was eventually medicated and ended up in locked door seclusion, the whole thing was a disaster that likely could have been prevented.

Dolce---if you work in geriatrics, believe me, you'll use your psych skills every day! You'll be dealing with a LOT of dementia, but a good many dementing diseases are superimposed on psychiatric conditions. I've cared for some really complex patients in LTC, like the lady who had a particularly nasty case of Lewy body dementia on top of paranoid schizophrenia. That was awful for her; she used to come to my office and tell me about her voices, who always tried to lure her into terrible sins; she would just sit in the chair next to me and cry her eyes out. I was almost always able to soothe her by telling her to use her call light whenever those voices started up, and I'd come and chase them away. Poor thing!I had another female resident who followed me from assisted living to a nursing home, who used to come in and ask if she could talk with me about depression. She'd had a bad episode when I first started at the ALF, and we bonded immediately after I talked with her about my own battles with it. She had a wicked sense of humor and loved to give me a bad time when I did her monthly B12 injection. Her diagnosis was actually Bipolar NOS and she was on a cocktail of meds; but I never saw her manic in all the years I knew her, only "normal" or depressed.......and that's when she'd come to my office and ask if she could talk about it.So, you will definitely use your psych nursing skills with this population. Best of luck to you!

You just brought me back to my days in psych. Many times the administration is more worried about the patients than the safety of the staff. I've seen several nurses who were physically in danger get fired for "not properly restraining a patient". It's a shame. Best wishes on your new endeavors!

I think its great that you not only took the time away for your own needs (and, wow, what an experience, I'm so sorry!) but that you are coming back to nursing. We all need great nurses, and it seems like you not only have the education and experience, but the insight needed to make a huge difference in the world. Best of luck to you!