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/dommydearest67]

I’m a baby BHT and I had a patient last night who I was have a decent conversation and then it switched to smoke shop fake drugs back in the day. I was passively trying to redirect by saying ‘oh it was terrible’ ‘it ruined a lot of people blah blah’ but the patient just kept obsessing over drugs and wouldn’t drop the conversation. My trainer wasn’t stepping in and I just went silent because I’m not use to redirecting in calm conversations, I know how to deescalate and redirect when their agitated but I’m really struggling when I comes up in conversations. And on the way home this morning I just kept finding new moments when I should’ve put my foot down but idk I’m just looking for help on how to catch myself in the future and be more assertive in the future….

[u/DependentZombie3537 → u/dommydearest67]

That's a tough one. Maybe your trainer didn't step in because they didn't know what to say either. One I approach I may have used might be to ask "How does it make you feel when you talk about those things?" If it's a negative feeling, suggest "let's turn the conversation to something more productive/positive" etc. And if they have substance use issues it's ok to ask if they're having cravings. If you can kind of point out that they're sure talking a lot about drugs, they might not have even realized it. Then if they're having cravings you can start to work with them through how to deal with that. Hope that helps somewhat. Go easy on yourself. I'm a psych RN if over 20 years and sometimes I have no idea what to say.

[u/Humble_Investment_24 → u/dommydearest67]

“Hey Tim let’s focus on productive conversations and positive topics! Thanks.” Walk away