Hi! My name is...

With an introduction like that, how could I decline this opportunity to try my hand at joining my passion for psych/mental health nursing with blogging? Especially considering the impact the 22nd Annual APNA Conference had on me, something I certainly intend to share with you in coming posts.

So, who the heck am I, that graduate student in Iowa referred to in the previous post? My name is Bonnie D'Souza, and I'm enrolled in the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program at the University of Iowa. While I've been a nurse for just over 3 years now, my heart has been in psych nursing for much longer than that. I went into my BSN program at Lewis University with a strong suspicion of my future specialty and am intensely satisfied with how my interest has grown. My particular interests lie in geropsychiatric nursing, end-of-life and bereavement, and research.

Thinking in true Wheel-of-Fortune-style introductions... :) I've been with a wonderful man for 6+ years and married him 2 1/2 years ago. He grew up in India, and we're planning to travel there this winter. We don't have children yet but are hopeful to someday. When I'm not glued to my text books and computer for classes, I love to spend my time baking, drinking coffee, reading, wandering bookstores & libraries, and playing photographer.

(The graduate student APNA-Janssen Scholars - Thanks to Pat for taking this!)

I am one of the 30 individuals honored this year with being selected as an APNA-Janssen Scholar. Hopefully, you will be hearing from a couple of them on this blog throughout the year! A large part of that award was having the opportunity to attend the APNA 22nd Annual Conference in Minneapolis a few weeks ago. This was truly a wonderful experience, one that allowed me to meet and spend time with some of the leaders in psychiatric/mental health nursing. I'm not just referring to the keynote speakers and those who gave presentations or had posters, but all those nurses I met in the elevator or sat next to at the concurrent sessions. And how can I not mention the other APNA-Janssen Scholars? This group of nurses and future nurses, my peers, who are so bright, interesting, and talented. I have no doubt that our generation will continue to bring these qualities to psych/mental health!

I am looking forward to blogging over the coming year. I hope to share with you some of my experiences, thoughts, and questions as a young nurse in the PMHNP program. But it doesn't stop there - I also want to hear from you. What are your experiences and insights? What do you wonder about? It's in the coming together that we can accomplish powerful things!

You can begin by commenting on this first post - how neat is it that two of the people who comment on the first post will be selected to receive a book! That's great! I'd do it!!

Cheers!

~Bonnie

New Year, New Blogger & some Blog Candy

We've just wrapped up the APNA 22nd Annual Conference. This was our most successful conference to date with over 1,000 attendees. We are working on convincing a graduate student in Iowa to take over the blog for the year. Her enthusiasm is infectious and her insight into psych nursing and the world around her is eye-opening.

Hopefully, we will see her first post soon. Please welcome her and subscribe so you can get her latest posts. Also, don't forget to leave comments. We will randomly pick 2 people who comment on her first post to received the new book Carved in Sand.

Last Blog

My blogging for APNA is at an end. Hopefully the tradition can continue. Each year more and more nurses join APNA, increasing the ratio of members that are used to and familiar with online resources such as this blog. So this kind of thing should have a future. But without member participation it is quite difficult. This lack of participation is normal in the first year of any endevour though.

In the last year, especially the last 6 months, I have been adding to my fund of knowledge more then ever before in psych. nursing. But sometimes it get's lonely in the office. And belonging to an organisation like APNA becomes essential.

I go now to the first pre-conference session here in the Twin Cities. I hope I will see you at the conference. Thank you for sticking with me the last year.

Peace, Gisli

APNA Conference in 10 days

Hope everybody is fired up for our convention. I am getting excited.

as we all know, it is not easy to get a psych nurse excited...

Plan to go to the sleep workshop. I find I am giving out Trazodone, Seroquel and other agents for sleep quite frequntly. I review the sleep hygiene points but sometimes the few minutes I spend on it seem to fall on deaf ears. Sometimes I probably don't spend enough time on sleep hygiene with clients. It is way easier to just write out a script, at least for me, in the short term.

I am hoping this seminar will keep me alert and on track.

See you there.

Fear

I am getting somewhat used to practicing on this new level I find myself on. Still there is fear. Fear of failure, fear of not knowing enough, fear of harming others through my negligence, fear of litigation, loss of reputaton, etc.,etc.

The solution to my fears is simple, but not easy, at least not for me.

I accept what can happen can happen, although it as not as likely as the script writer of the acopalypse that sometimes occupies my brain makes it out to be, in his finer moments. By fully accepting the worst case scenario I am released from my fear.

Then I simply do my best one day at a time.

Most good ideas are simple, in my experience, at least to the person having them...

Benzo's, what are they good for, uhh.......

I guess I am a bit biased when it comes to the blessed benzo's. Cynical after my CD inpatient experience. Detoxing of heroin is a walk in the park compared to getting off long term benzo use. I have heard suggestions from psychiatrists I respect that it takes up to two years to detox properly from them. I have not found any research that supports this claim though.

I guess they can be helpful, short term, e.g. post trauma or prn occasionally, for people with no substance abuse history. But too many good people are being left too long on them. They become physically, and more importantly, psychologically, dependent on them. They are convinced "nothing else is going too work".

Being trigger happy with this drug category is a dangerous game. Usually other psychotropics can be found that serve the same purpose. Not to mention non-pharmacological approaches.It is frustrating to see people left on these meds. for years, with limited or no attempts to find other avenues to address the target symptoms.

My final analysis: Useful in certain circumstances, but should be prescribed with caution. Can solve provider/pt. short term dilemma's only to create much bigger ones in the future

Yibbiiii

Good news, at least for me...

Took and passed my certification test last Wednesday. Good to be able to find out right away like that, reduces anxiety, I am sure everybody around me is glad too.

Was unsure how I was doing when I was taking it. Had to answer 175 questions in 3,5 hours. Had 15 minutes left to review questions. A long test. A lot of questions.

Guess you had to have grad school work to pass it. Not a lot of facts, more focus on understanding. This is good. As graduate education, at least the high quality one, should not be testing our cognitive functions and memory. A MMSE is sufficient for that. Graduate education is supposed to help create a mind capable of critical thinking. So we can make the right decisions with the most current and reliable information available. After all information is always changing.

If any of you out there have yet to take the Adult PMHCNS exam and are about to this fall, do not hesitate to post questions here or send me an email at gislik@gmail.com.

I did feel though that ANCC takes too long sending out the Authorisation to test number. What is the hold up? This is not a government agency, the services are relatively expensive. They can't afford hiring one more person? Is the lack of competition making them complacent? Maybe there is a reason for this I am not seeing?

Other services from ANCC were excellent, but the delay remains strange.