I've been working as a psych nurse for about 6 years. I spent about 7 months on a medsurg unit right out of nursing school. Sometimes I don't feel like a real nurse. Any ideas to get my skills back on track? You tend to feel like a real fool as an RN who has trouble with IV starts.

See if you can tag along with the IV team (if there is one) for awhile or ask for some IV training through the education department (if there is one).

It sounds like you are having some burn out. What are you in psych nursing for? What led you to it. Is that gone? Don't you have skills as a psych nurse that have developed with your psych work, that you wouldn't have had otherwise? Everyone has different skills and interests. It bothers me that you don't feel like a real nurse sometimes. It saddens me.

Work part-time in an ER...?

funny--have you read the thread on here with an OP who is asking about having heard someone saying a psych nurse is not a real nurse, wanting feedback from non psych nurses as to if they really feel that way......I being mainly a psych nurse....was happy to see the nice things that were said about psych nurses. So I guess the question is if this is something you are feeling coming from you or based on what you think other nurses think about you. About psych nurses. You may want to read the thread. I personally enjoyed it. If you like psych but want more medical do they have a unit specifically for med/psych where you live? We have one at the one large university and the nurses have to have both psych and medical skills there. Its for those that are too unstable medically to be managed on a psych floor but behaviors/safety don't allow the patient to managed safely on a medical floor either. Something to look into. Sometimes they see unstable medical delrium cases or TBIs that are no longer needing ICU but need a step down that can handle the behaviors as well as the medical. Lots of different things. Good luck to you.