I learned that Maslow REALLY does have something behind his theory. Food is one of the most potent anxiolytics there is: feed a 5150 who hasn't eaten well for several mealtimes, and you will find they become a lot more cooperative when being admitted.
I've learned it's really easy to tell the difference between someone who is truly paranoid and someone who really isn't. If you tell me you're paranoid, you may or may not be. If you keep pointing out every little thing and specifically stating, "I'm paranoid about that," you're probably not.
I learned that all cats have at least one Axis II diagnosis.
I learned that most patients will jump to take any medication if you tell them that it works just like Valium. Note that I didn't say to tell the patient it's Valium when it's not: I've never lied to patients about medications and I'm not about to start now. But telling them that a medication will calm them down like a Valium does is a fair tactic...there's not always a need to immediately tell them that it's Geodon and Benadryl, especially if they're in the midst of psychotic delusions and about to lob a chair at me.
I learned how transgendered patients in prison make cosmetics for themselves. Seriously. It's mostly ground-up candy. M&Ms can go a long way; so does Kool-Aid.
Two more assignments completed, bringing the count to 49.
No work this weekend, even though the agency called to ask if I was free.
I heard a couple of things about the facility I'm at...apparently they are on a hiring tear because they want to cut back on the number of agency people. Then again, they've been having a hard time keeping any sort of nurses for the last couple of years: either they've moved on to other things...or here one day, fired the next. And they always seem to be desperate for nurses to work right now, so I'm not worried about losing hours just yet.
I've still got the outpatient job. My outpatient hours are starting to pick up as some of the nurses want to go on vacation and I'll be covering for them. Another nurse is pregnant and has started taking time off, so I'm covering there too. Also, said nurse will be going on maternity leave soon, and the unit manager pretty much told me I could have all of her hours while she is out. I would...except that it's mostly evenings. So I said that I could promise to pick up some for now and we'll go from there.
Also, I found out that my main facility has its own inpatient registry services, so I could always suck it up and apply there. Actually, I don't know why I haven't done that: I'd be getting paid quite a bit more than I am now...oh yeah, the whole loss of my scheduling freedom. If I went registry at my facility, I'd lose a lot of that.
