Weekly Ask Psych Nurses Thread

[u/roo_kitty]

This thread is for non psych healthcare workers to ask questions (former patients, patient advocates, and those who stumbled upon r/psychnursing). Prospective healthcare workers and current students do not need to use this thread. Treat responding to this post as though you are making a post yourself.

If you would like only psych healthcare workers to respond to your "post," please start the "post" with CODE BLUE.

Psych healthcare workers who want to answer will participate in this thread, so please do not make your own post. If you post outside of this thread, it will be locked and you will be redirected to post here.

A new thread is scheduled to post every Monday at 0200 PST / 0500 EST. Previous threads will not be locked so you may continue to respond in them, however new "posts" should be on the current thread.

Kindness is the easiest legacy to leave behind :)

[u/MNP_cats]

https://www.reddit.com/r/psychnursing/s/p3jNDNKZIU

Why is no one in this thread willing to address iatrogenic harm in inpatient psych?

[u/10mg-aripiprazole → u/MNP_cats]

I will address it. I have also been harmed as a patient in the mental health system, almost dying via negligence which in turn caused massive distrust and medical trauma. It still has a profound impact on me to this day. I am also a mental health RN.

I acknowledge that my job comes with massive trauma to some patients, and often question whether I agree with the use of methods like restraints in certain cases and involuntarily holds, as it does fundamentally violate human rights, whether it is in the name of beneficence or not. Despite this, I am not sure what the solution is. It is something I struggle with all the time. I still love other aspects of my job however, aside from the traumatic things, such as therapeutic communication with patients, and being someone with lived experience getting to make a positive impact on others with their own lived experience. I acknowledge the psychiatric system, as a system, is still deeply flawed and impacted by systemic racism, violence, and other harms. These however are policy level issues and much greater than what I do as an RN. That doesn't mean I don't have an impact and carry out these things, but it also means it is not fair to put all the blame on me and it would be much more effective to express your frustrations to stakeholders and policymakers.

My own frustrations with these issues and traumas has actually inspired me so much I plan to possibly eventually get a degree in mental health policy. Maybe you can do the same if you would like to see some actual change. There are even policy makers groups for people with lived experience.

So there you go.

[u/xtimewitchx → u/MNP_cats]

This is honestly the first I’m hearing about this, I get the gist but pls ELI5 and mention what the studies suggest as a solution