Paranoia
Tonight is my sixth night duty in 8 days And it’s a night when a paranoid new admission who can physically do some harm if left untreated Was admitted Patients can be paranoid for a variety of reasons, ranging from hypoxia( lack of oxygen), chemical imbalances, trauma and mental illness I was hoping for a quiet night Fat chance Thankfully dealing with unpredictable patients is what I do well And after four hours and a very shaky start, things seem to be under control. The rule of thumb when managing paranoia is that you control the situation before it escalates I learned this rule many years ago when I worked on a mother and baby psychiatric unit on nights. The unit was split into two with an enrolled nurse caring for 4 babies in a nursery on one side of an office area whilst the four mothers and 12 general psychiatric patients were nursed in single rooms and small dormitories of two and four beds on the other .The adult patients were my responsibility aided by another staff nurse of ...