HELP!

[BaguaKicksAss]

I volunteered in a psych hospital for a time (was part of my abnormal psyche project). The only problems I saw was what I would consider excessive dosing with medications which made folks partially unfunctional . Whether they were more functional or not than before they came there, who knows. I have seen the medications really help some people, and really hinder others. The overall end goal though is to get folks back out and living a functional life. Since then the hospital closed down; our homeless population increased due to this .

[steve]

Can't generalise here Steve all I know is the English psychiatric hospitals system that I trained and worked as a nurse in.

Did that for twenty some years prior to moving into teacher training.

Our psychy nurses are well trained, checks and balances are in place for safeguarding the patients, the public and nursing staff.

There is no such thing as a perfect system nor perfect people.

I do think that a patient in the English system has as good treatment as can be found in most places and possibly better than in some.

 

I can only speak based on some experience with the US system.

Training and safeguards are well-intentioned but only as effective as the individuals implementing them.

Burnout is very high and there is a lot of bitterness and dissatisfaction among the staff and physicians.

Many facilities are over-populated and understaffed.

Many chronic treatment facilities have been shut down, overwhelming the acute care facilities.

Documentation requirements have led to over-burdening the staff with computer work at the expense of patient care and contact. Nurses spend most of their time documenting bullshit and hands on care is mostly delegated to inexperienced, underpaid, and under-trained aides and extenders.

The emphasis on pharmaceutical manipulation is very high and there is little attention paid to alternative therapies.

All of this has an impact on the patients and how they are managed.

Things could be much better and also much worse.

While there is clearly a need for inpatient, acute and chronic care, there is also a need for reformation of the system.

Unfortunately, the current drive for change in the system is a a misguided and misleading attempt by government forces to create a system that permits large scale data mining at the expense of quality, personalized care.

…

rant off

[GrandmasterP]

I hear that Steve.

Back when I trained we still had the old asylum system and those truly were places of safety for most of those who needed to be in them.

The downside being that long term institutions inculcate institutionalisation in some.

Then we got 'care in the community' and some folks who really needed to be in an asylum were pitched out into the community to sink or swim.

Many sank.

Now we have a more balanced system with these 'units' such as the one Cap is in offering the best of what the old asylums offered but with increased links and contacts to the communities they serve.

In a way in the UK we are spoiled as nurses because we are 'de facto' state employees without many of the pressures that a private medical system focused on the bottom line of the annual accounts and shareholder report; of necessity must put on its staff.

Edited May 26, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[C T]

Can't generalise here Steve all I know is the English psychiatric hospitals system that I trained and worked as a nurse in.

Did that for twenty some years prior to moving into teacher training.

Our psychy nurses are well trained, checks and balances are in place for safeguarding the patients, the public and nursing staff.

There is no such thing as a perfect system nor perfect people.

I do think that a patient in the English system has as good treatment as can be found in most places and possibly better than in some.

It appears the UK nursing fraternity are not a happy lot, according to this report. They may be well trained, but that does nothing to stem the hazards associated with this demanding profession.

 

http://apt.rcpsych.org/content/9/5/374.full

[GrandmasterP]

Yep I remember that report coming out around the turn of the last century.

It led to some positive changes.

Thing is with hospitals being open 24/7 and all, working unsocial hours is kinda a given.

Back when we had a hard time recruiting nurses one of my shift patterns was 5 days on then 5 nights on followed by two days off.

But...

They could and sometimes did call us in on those two days off to cover absences.

That was just how it was so you either did it or baled out.

These days there's a working hours directive so nobody ( apart from very junior doctors) has to work punishing hours anymore.

Us 'old hands' when we get together to grizzle tend towards mantras such as...

" Young nurses today- pah! They don't know they are born. Their lot is sheer luxury compared to what we had to do."

Nostalgia aint what it once was.

Edited May 26, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[Horus]

Edited January 28, 2016 by Horus

[Rara]

Go with the programme and 'fake it 'til ya make it' buddy.

Best advice!

[Rara]

No word yet?

 

I just have a mental image of Skydog busting Captain out and them jumping on a boat across the sea.

[BaguaKicksAss]

His profile says last active May 28th...

[Rara]

Fascinating. Not like him to be active and not excessively post though...

 

Judging by the OP, it's like he busted his way onto the secretary's net for 2 mins before being dragged away. Or something like that.

[BaguaKicksAss]

Or maybe accessing TTBs via his smartphone??

 

Hmmm, locked up, you have 2 mins on a computer no one is watching, what do you do??

 

TaoBums!

[Rara]

Or maybe accessing TTBs via his smartphone??

 

Hmmm, locked up, you have 2 mins on a computer no one is watching, what do you do??

 

TaoBums!

Would they allow him to have his smart phone?

 

Why log in and not post, especially after what he put in the first post?

 

What a mystery.

[Rara]

Lol, sorry Captain, it's like you're here and we're talking about you without acknowledging you.

 

If you're with us, give us a sign

[Nungali]

Is this TTB or a ouija board ? Hopefully Cap isnt THAT far gone.

 

If he is able to access TTB in there, he could just show them some of the posts around here and say, 'See ! And you think I am nuts ! ? "

[Brian]

I'm not crazy. My mother had me tested.

[Nungali]

I have a friend that got a not crazy certificate ... this Japanese guy, he realised he needed to get arrested so he could get into jail and save the prisoners with his 'Jerry MacQuire ..... (friends Japanese name) TV show to save the world'. Since smoking joints inside the local pub didnt work he hit upon the brilliant plan of riding a bicycle to Qld ( over 600 km ... and an old pushbike from the rubbish dump, not one with gears or anything) without a crash helmet. He somehow made it without being arrested, so turned around and came back ( hitching I think, without the bike) but got picked up by the cops ... they found a smidgin of hooch on him and locked him up, decided he was crazy and booked him in with a local psychologist the next morning, and gave him a voucher for a night at a motel and dinner at a restaurant . In the morning the psychologist decided he wasnt crazy, wrote out the not crazy report, he took it back to the cops and they told him to go home.

 

Then he turns up here and shows me the document; "Look ..... (name) not crazy ! I have not-crazy certificate ... do you have one? "

[GreytoWhite]

I have two certificates saying I was crazy a few years back... haven't been tested since.

[Captain Mar-Vell]

...

Don't Panic!

 

I'm good.

 

I'm All Ways good.

 

And I'm always where I am.

 

Right here at the Ladywell Unit in Lewis Ham.

 

It's just Morse code, innit?

 

Ha ha ha.

...

[GrandmasterP]

Ah Lewisham.

Gateway to the East.

Sounds as if you are on the mend Cap.

Fake it 'til ya make it bro.

All strength to you.

Edited June 8, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[BaguaKicksAss]

...

Don't Panic!

 

I'm good.

 

I'm All Ways good.

 

And I'm always where I am.

 

Right here at the Ladywell Unit in Lewis Ham.

 

It's just Morse code, innit?

 

Ha ha ha.

...

 

Glad you are doing well .

[manitou]

I am relieved, darling. Keep 'em laughing.

[Captain Mar-Vell]

...

Just don't tell the Doctors Milgram that I suffer from paranoid ideation!

 

I just wonder what made them section me.

 

I was after all just sitting at home sipping a cup of tea on my own.

 

Perhaps the neighbours complained.

 

I have some funny neighbours.

 

Mostly I am trying to rest from my 40 day Easter meditations, and put on some weight as quickly as I can.

 

There are some strange folk here, but then I have to keep reminding myself that I am in a mental hospital.

...

Edited June 9, 2014 by Captain Mar-Vell

[BaguaKicksAss]

So who is more strange the patients or the doctors? I volunteered at the local asylum for a time (school project), and it would be difficult for me to answer that question .

[Rara]

So who is more strange the patients or the doctors? I volunteered at the local asylum for a time (school project), and it would be difficult for me to answer that question .

When I worked in a school,sometimes I couldn't tell which ones were teachers and which ones were kids.

[Rara]

...

Just don't tell the Doctors Milgram that I suffer from paranoid ideation!

 

I just wonder what made them section me.

 

I was after all just sitting at home sipping a cup of tea on my own.

 

Perhaps the neighbours complained.

 

I have some funny neighbours.

 

Mostly I am trying to rest from my 40 day Easter medtiations, and put on some weight as quickly as I can.

 

There are some strange folk here, but then I have to keep reminding myself that I am in a mental hospital.

...

And when you're out. Make sure you don't draw any attention to yourself!

 

Glad you're doing ok buddy.