Psych or Neuro Clinical Experience

[deleted1179966]

Hello.
I want to ask about any psychiatric or neuro based clinical experience.
Ideally, I would like to work as a staff at a psychiatric facility. However, I am only 5ft tall and 90 pounds and am afraid of severely hurt (permanent bodily damage) by patients. What would be some places to work at? Also, I literally look like a 13 year old even though I am 20 if that contributes to anything

Patient care tech, behavioral health facility for kids, idk.

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[foibleBird1!56]

You could work as an RBT (registered behavioral tech) and become certified in ABA therapy to work with kids. It counts as clinical, but you would also need more exposure in a medical setting to round out your app.

A psych tech in a hospital might have more risk because patients can be altered.

Alternatively, you could do clinical psych or neuro research, but not all of those hours may be classified as clinical and depends on the role.

 

[foibleBird1!56]

You could work as an RBT (registered behavioral tech) and become certified in ABA therapy to work with kids. It counts as clinical, but you would also need more exposure in a medical setting to round out your app.

A psych tech in a hospital might have more risk because patients can be altered.

Alternatively, you could do clinical psych or neuro research, but not all of those hours may be classified as clinical and depends on the role.

I also wanted to do similar experiences but decided on other roles such as scribing. As an ED scribe, I have a lot of exposure to neuro and psych cases with a lot more diversity. You may be pigeonholing yourself in a way if you are looking for these roles only when other options may be in front of you that you're ignoring.

You can also consider volunteering with crisis text line - it's remote, but they do train you in crisis management, even though it's more general and cools the texter down rather than solving for the long term.

 

[fatface01]

i worked full time at a safety-net psych hospital where almost everyone was legally committed to treatment. it was in many ways awesome - i met so many amazing people, learned a ton, bonded w patients from all sorts of backgrounds, etc. without it i wouldn’t have discovered a lot of why i want to go into medicine.

of course, it was often nerve-racking and dangerous. i did get assaulted and badly injured but i ended up going back because i really did love the work! getting over the trauma was tough but worth it

all that’s to say that as long as you know what you’re getting into, working in a psych hospital can be so incredibly rewarding. but don’t blindly accept a job - if there’s not good safety measures then leave! i agree there’s other roles where you can see a lot with less risk like patient care tech (what i do now), ER tech/patient sitter, and scribing

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Less risk in the ER, but in not sure how to compare...

Note: written during the pandemic. I haven't heard this not being a problem anymore.

Rising violence in the emergency department

Nearly 50% of emergency physicians say they’ve been assaulted. 70% of emergency nurses report being hit or kicked on the job. So what’s the solution?

www.aamc.org

More recently

Opinion | Stabbed. Kicked. Spit On. Violence in American Hospitals Is Out of Control.

Emergency rooms are among the most dangerous workplaces in the United States.

www.nytimes.com

Interesting old posts in the forums...

 

[toastedbutter]

When I worked in our psych hospital, these things were taken into account during the hiring process and what team you were assigned to. I specifically applied to work with mood disorders in an ECT clinic (because I wanted a mix of both psychiatric care and medical care/procedures to learn from) and my nurse manager would make sure I (a taller dude) was usually scheduled with one of my coworkers (a tiny 65 yr old lady). In the specific clinic I worked in the patients were not at a high risk of causing any potential harm (in comparison to maybe other areas of the psych hospital). So if you are near a major medical center you could talk to a recruiter to see if any opening is available in a similar clinic or maybe even a clinic for kids. The impression I got during my hiring process was such treatment centers won't really hire you unless they thing you can manage it and meet the 'technical requirements' of the job.

Props for thinking about working in neuropsych! So rewarding and educational.

 

[Hollow Knight]

My smaller nurse friends who worked psych told me there were always a couple of beefcakes they kept around for moments like those. But that's pure anecdote, not sure what your working situation will be