ER nurses have become psych nurses.

I feel like I work in a psych ward these days. It's psych all day, every day.  These days it is not unusual for psych patients to stay 2-5 days in the ER.  No beds.  Not a day goes by that one of these patients gets out of control.  Some people yell for hours. They sometimes scare the other patients.  Half of all the patients are sometimes psych patients.

The number of adolescent psych patients has exploded in the last few years. Why is that? What has happened in our society to cause more kids to be unable to cope? Is it just increased awareness?

It feels like the vast majority of patients are people with chronic problems.  The people who have 2 or 3 diagnosis' and are on multiple meds.  We don't get many people who are just having a crisis in life.

The latest psychiatric diagnosis de jour is PTSD.  What used to be only heard of with veterans has now spread out to the general population as a diagnosis.

Want to get admitted for psych? Here are the magic word "I am suicidal". Gets you in 90% of the time. It's part of the reason for overcrowding.

No one seems to care about the ongoing mental health crisis in hospitals.  Psych patients aren't profitable.  So it goes on and on, getting worse by the day. Staff are getting hurt.  ER nurses have become psych nurses. The patients are the ones who are suffering.