Mental Pt Additional Training?

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climberslacker

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Hey All,

I am a new EMT-B and realized that while my instructor gave us some really god tips on dealing with suicidal/depressed patients but I still feel like it was inadiquate. Are there any online resources that you could point me to that may help me best deal with these sorts of patients.

To be clear, I DO NOT intend to diagnose/treat mentally ill patients but I do want to know how best to talk to them, make them comfortable and generally not say anything stupid. In short, I want to learn how to provide the best care for mentally ill patients.

I would also be glad to see any resources to help with comforting patients in general. While I feel I have the technical knowledge down, the biggest thing that I am afraid of is the role of comforting a patient when nothing else can be done.
 
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experience, just need lots and lots of calls. common sense dictates what should and should not be said. None of it may work anyway.

Be nice and friendly, treat them as you would anyone else. thats really all you can do.
 
Often, the calls we are dispatched on where we find "psych patients" are simply people who may be depressed or are acting out because they don't have adequate coping skills. While I have been on my share of true "psych emergencies", they're not as common as one might think.

Of course, the interfacility psych calls may be a different story.

A great resource for helping to deescalate potentially dangerous or violent encounters is Verbal Judo. It's just what it sounds like, a tactical communications course. I took a weekend class, but highly recommend the book and other online learning resources. It's made me a much better communicator when dealing with those patients who are considered "difficult" and has prevented LE from being involved in several cases.

Disclosure: I'm not involved with VJ other than having taken the course, but am looking at an instructor program to being this material to my entire department.
 
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It's experience, but you also need to know what to focus on in gaining experience. The most important thing you need to do is be calm, really, embody the FORCE of calmness. Remember that where you go, you bring calm with you, and you can give your calm to people you encounter.

It's slightly different for BLS providers who can't do much for many patients, but for the most part there was never an emergency, so the emergency is well under control just because you are there. If you believe that, you're a winner. Do not embrace the drama of ANY scene, no drama means calm, calm means safe.

Show everyone respect, speak kindly and with a friendly tone, assess and decide accurately whether you should take a formal approach with them (Mrs Smith) or a casual approach with them (hey, Cathy).

Here are some quick things I found that are valid tips, and give you some lines. I recommend using standard basic transports to practice the therapeutic communication. Maybe watch some therapeutic communication samples on youtube. It looks stupid and it feels like psychobabble, but it's effective and gives you professional, helpful things to say, and eliminates the fumbling through another SAMPLE history.

http://www.austincc.edu/richb/thercom.htmlv

http://store.samhsa.gov/shin/content/NMH05-0210/NMH05-0210.pdf
 
Take an abnormal psychology class or read up on the DSM-IV-TR. If you don't plan on diagnosing the patient, there is really little you can do to get a clear understanding of what you are dealing with, and how to address comfort care. One thing I know about mental disorders is that there is usually never a clear-cut answer to the source. There is a lot of overlapping of mental disorders, and it makes treatment difficult. Best to just get your patient to the hospital and let the doctors handle it.

Convincing some of these patients to go to the hospital may be difficult, but I'd say its always good to act as though you are on their side to gain their trust. Be the patient's advocate unless it will do you or others harm.
 
Be

  • a good listener
  • sincere
  • compasionate
  • considerate
  • respectful
  • firm
  • flexible
  • their champion

While there is no replacement for experience these soft skills are your best tools when working with a psych pt.
 
"Mental Pt Additional Training?"

Sure, if they need it.






(How have the rest of you resisted this!?);)
 
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