Mental Health Technician

[DiggySRNA]

Any previous mental health worker/tech plan on or have applied to PA school***?

If yes, how was the experience being involved in psyche?

 

 

I am interested in EMT (job market is crap), Rad Tech Aide, and Mental Health Tech. 

 

 

I am due to begin training as a RT-aide but having diversity never hurts.

 

 

***I already searched both general and pre-pa sections and found nothing on experience; pros/cons etc.

[dndandrea]

I work as a PCNA (nurse assistant) in the float pool at a hospital that has many psych (behavioral and mood disorders) and medical units. I do the same thing the behavioral techs do on the floor, but make much less (has to do with being PRN and non Union). I can say that behavioral techs have it much much easier than the nurse assistants on the medical floors and make much more than they do. We both went through the same training.

 

Behavioral techs don't really get much medical exposure since the nurses handle all the meds and the majority of the patients are independent. You just report to the nurses what you observe the patients doing and try to reduce anything getting out of hand. Then it can get physical and IMs are given and you'll start hearing the words Ativan, Haldol, Geodon, Benedryl, and other psychiatric drugs.

 

It's decent exposure, but a nurse assistsnt on the medical floors would be better or an ER position. Plus, I don't think there's many positions in psych for PAs, at least there are none at my hospital. Let me know if you'd like to know more, I love working in psych.

[DiggySRNA]

I was curious about the day to day operations as a technician in psyche. The position is in a psychiatric hospital and the tech is responsible for monitoring patient safety, co-leading therapeutic activities (groups), assist with group programs, but nothing about taking vitals (plan to get this from the other positions). I'm interested in FM, IM and Peds as a PA, but just wanted to create a diverse application and make myself a well-rounded professional. 

 

I just wanted to learn more about the work environment, and how are Mental Health Techs utilized. Are they constantly being supervised? How much of a toll does it take on a person's physical and emotional health and overall happiness. 

 

What about psyche do you love? Just from reading the job ad, I can see myself enjoy interacting with the many personalities I will be facing should I elect to apply.

[dndandrea]

I was curious about the day to day operations as a technician in psyche. The position is in a psychiatric hospital and the tech is responsible for monitoring patient safety, co-leading therapeutic activities (groups), assist with group programs, but nothing about taking vitals (plan to get this from the other positions). I'm interested in FM, IM and Peds as a PA, but just wanted to create a diverse application and make myself a well-rounded professional. 

 

I just wanted to learn more about the work environment, and how are Mental Health Techs utilized. Are they constantly being supervised? How much of a toll does it take on a person's physical and emotional health and overall happiness. 

 

What about psyche do you love? Just from reading the job ad, I can see myself enjoy interacting with the many personalities I will be facing should I elect to apply.

We actually have an arts & activity therapist who runs the group sessions a couple of times a day. My job consists of taking patients vital signs, checking blood sugars, passing out food, and basically just monitoring the patients all day. A psych floor is much different than a medical floor. The patients don't spend much of their time in the bed unless they're resting or sleeping. Most walk the hallways or spend time in the living area. Most of them are bored, so I like to get to know each patient personally and hear their story. I look through their medical history while i'm monitoring everyone and I can learn a lot (medically speaking) from reading the psychiatrist's or medical doctor's notes. For the most part though I just monitor the patients and report anything out of the ordinary to the nurses who are usually hiding behind the locked nursing station. We have to do rounds on each patient every 15 minutes (chart on where they are or what they are doing).

 

Your hospital and job will likely be much different than mine. I like it because it's usually a break from the medical floors. It's interesting to listen to a lot of these patients' stories and backgrounds. I've seen BIG changes in some people's behavior and mood. I actually wrote a little about one of the patients in my personal statement for school. You'll see a lot of messed up people come in as patients. People you'd laugh at on the side of the street if you didn't know any better. You'll also start to realize that there's a lot of people on the streets who need psychiatric help, but can't afford it or refuse. 

 

The unfortunate side of working in psych is when things get out of hand, which isn't uncommon. Restraints and lock seclusion are not out of the ordinary (though we try really hard not to enforce those). Security officers are used a lot for patients who act out physically on other patients or staff. You'll see some nurses who overreact to certain behaviors are give patients PRNs and IMs when it really isn't necessary, and all it does is make the patient sleep, which won't positively help the patient heal or overcome an illness. I should use the word "overreact" lightly though, since you never know what's going through these patients' minds. One second they could be just like you or me, then the next second start hitting people.

 

To answer some of the your other questions: I am never supervised on any of the floors at the hospital. The supervisors are busy doing office work and I rarely see them. Our "bosses" are the nurses, but honestly we all work as a team and no one ever really tells someone they have to do this or that. The first few weeks might be rough emotionally, but after a while you just get used to everything and nothing will phase you. Physically the only serious pain I encountered was a punch to the face. I've been grabbed, swung at, and hit many times though, but not enough to really make me hurt the next day.

 

Working on medical floors are moderately rough all day. Working on behavioral floors usually easy, until things get out of hand.

[DiggySRNA]

Thank you very much for sharing. I wish you luck with your studies and pursuit to become a PA.

[EMEDPA]

there was a guy with that background in my program. ex-military. he did very well.

[dndandrea]

Thank you very much for sharing. I wish you luck with your studies and pursuit to become a PA.

No problem. One thing I will suggest though is to not be afraid of the negative stigma surrounding psych. The general population thinks every psych patient some crazy schizophrenic that will try to kill you. Most of these patients are just depressed and/or stopped taking their meds. Some have really serious problems. Others just need a few days to recover. Most of the patients are pretty pleasant. However, some are just looking for an easy way off the street and might exaggerate their mental health conditions. Some patients will REALLY test your nerves (purposely or not purposely sometimes), but it will make you a better man/woman in the end. Your respect for people with psychiatric issues will grow immensely.