Psych (not to be confused with "sike!")

Let me start off by saying how much of a psychology nerd I am...if it weren't for nursing, that's what I would have majored in. I wish I had had time for more psych classes because I just think it's the coolest. Anyway. No matter how excited I am to geek out about psych-related things once again, I will admit that I'm really intimidated by psych in a clinical/mental health situation. It only made matters worse when we received information about how we can't wear our scrubs because they intimidate the patients, and we can't wear jewelry or our hair down because we could get injured by the patients. Um, College of Nursing, if what I wear is that big of a deal, aren't you concerned with the distinct likelihood that I'm going to say something to upset a patient? My fears were simultaneously alleviated and worsened by our orientation at the facility; although I realized that these people deserve to be respected and treated like human beings so it's not fair for me to be scared of them, it was intimidating that a huge majority of the patients (although "pediatric") were easily bigger and most likely stronger than me (no matter how much I like to think that I'm scrappy). My group will be at a state mental health facility specific to children. I'm trying to keep an open mind because, for all I know, psych could be where I end up working in a year and a half. Orientation just meant we went over the basics, some of what to expect, and the rules (oh and basic self-defense maneuvers. Yeah). It seems like this experience is going to be mostly observational; we're going to observe the children in their interactions with others as well as to interact with them ourselves so we can get a better idea of how to assess and talk to and work with patients such as these. As one of the nurses we talked to put it, "Every nurse is a psych nurse first." No matter where you work (and especially if I end up in the ER), one of the first things you do with a patient is assess his/her mental state, which requires experience and familiarity with psych. I think once I get over the initial insecurity/intimidation, that it will be a really interesting, rewarding experience.