[kerri212]

Hi eveyone,

I am new to this site and was hoping if anyone could give me some advice. I'm having trouble finding my niche in nursing. I have always considered pscyhe as I enjoyed it in nursing school and used to work as a secretary in a mental health clinic. I have worked on med-surg, ER, and now I'm in peds ICU. I just don't feel that these areas fulfill me as a nurse. I really believe that everyone should love their job as it is a huge part of life! I'm just having trouble finding it! Does anyone have any experience with peds or adolescent mental health? Any feed back would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Kerri

[sjoe]

"Does anyone have any experience with peds or adolescent mental health? "

Some things you just have to try out to see if you like them. I would recommend shadowing for at least one shift in ANY potential psych placement. My experience with peds, adolescents, and adult psych so far--run like the wind.

But, in theory, there might be a decent facility of this kind. Just have never run into one yet.

[Nurse Ratched]

I've done some floating to an inpatient adolescent psych unit. Really not my gig, and the kids are nearly always screwed up as a direct result of their Jerry Springer-like upbringing and/or utter lack of parental control of any sort. I liken it to the frustration that teachers must have these days - you can only do so much for kids when the parents aren't on board. Pushing adderal wasn't really fulfilling.

But I would strongly recommend as sjoe indicated - shadow someone if possible. It's the only way to get a little more of a clue of how you might feel about it. Good luck .