Posted by Lepus on August 29, 2011, at 23:13:34
In reply to Re: Would you rather be 'real' sick?, posted by emmanuel98 on August 29, 2011, at 22:10:27
Wow! We have had completely different experiences with our hospital stays. I've had the best nurses consistently concerning my physical medical complaints. I've had a few problems with psych nurses however. Perhaps it is because my illness is not well understood, at least not to the severity I have it. I suppose I could easily look like I'm not trying or being manipulative. During my last stay my therapist actually put on my chart that I was neither of these things, highly motivated and would never lie about his orders. Sad that even had to be charted. More sad that few nurses read it.
I don't want to make it seem like I despise all psych nurses. I don't. During my last stay I encountered a couple of wonderful nurses who were truly where they belonged occupationally. They were just exceptional, even when they were swamped. I wish I could thank them properly. Never even got to say goodbye to the best nurse I had.
Anyway, psych hospitals these days are not what they were, even when you go to a place like McLean.
> I have been hospitalized several times and have found the nurses kind and caring. As a psych patient, I see the doctor every day for half an hour or so. As a non-psych patient (have had double pnuemonia, menigitis and major ankle surgery), I see a doctor for maybe five minutes, and then it's a resident who is barely competent. Nurses on medical wards are completely overworked. When I had pneumonia, I noticed that none of the nurses was over 35 and I asked one of the nurses about this. She said people burn out. On psych wards, the nurses tend to be older and tend to stay on for years.
>
> I would be happier to have a physical illness insofar as my daughter and husband would feel less ambivalence, but in terms of hospitalization, I feel psych wards have been kind and caring in a way that medical wards are not.
poster:Lepus
thread:995194
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110822/msgs/995230.html