[sandlewood_nurse]

Well,

I know that this topic might be talked to death but .. I am sooooo confused !! I want to work in Psych, but I currently have an OR job. I spoke with a recruiter the other day and she said there are always Psych nurses but not in OR. She said that the OR was the smarter route because if the shortage ends it will be easier to get OR job as opposed to a Psych JOb. She also said that the pay for Psych nurses is much lower than that for OR nurses.

I want to be practical, but I don't want to work in the OR mostly due to the toxic environment. I would eventually like to become a cousellor/therapist therefore I would be happier in Psych. At the same time I dont' want to be STUCK in Psych, so should I need to earn more money in the future or should I not be able to get a Psych job.

I want to do both because I'm afraid of going fulltime in psych. I however think its very unlikely that my manager would be willing to give me a part time position. I was told when I asked before taht part time posiitons are in high demand and since most workers have more seniority over me that it would be unlikely I would be able to get that. Then I think I shud just leave and go for full time psych .. but I think it might be best for me to stay in the OR on a part time basis at least for another year to solidify my skills some more.

What would you do? Would I be really stupid for leaving the OR completely. How much less do Psych nurses make when they are being recruited?

Thank you for your time.

[Cay]

Checking the human resource sites, it doesn't appear that the pay is any less for the psych nurse than the or nurse. You would be required to be on call an take call which will increase your pay. I don't know if psych nurses have to do this, maybe it would be very infrequent. You are talking about 2 different worlds in the hospital. It would be great to do both part time as they are both such a huge challenge. Isn't nursing wonderful with all the areas we have to choose from!!!!

[sandlewood_nurse]

YES !! IT IS TRUELY WONDERFUL !! My plan is to go back on a fulltime basis to the OR and request a part time position. If they don't give me a part time position I will just go Per Diem once I get my psych job. The hard part is getting a psych position without any psych experience. I called one of the children's hospitals because eventually I would like to work wth kids and I was told that I should take a c ouple courses before I can be considered, and apparently there are no Part time or Full time, just casual positions. I will spend the rest of the week inquiring with the adult psych units .

I think to work in both specialties would be so amazing. I find the OR very stressful, I cna't do it fulltime, but I do enjoy it when I find when I used to have a day or two off in the week. Wish me luck in this :s.

Originally Posted by Cay

Checking the human resource sites, it doesn't appear that the pay is any less for the psych nurse than the or nurse. You would be required to be on call an take call which will increase your pay. I don't know if psych nurses have to do this, maybe it would be very infrequent. You are talking about 2 different worlds in the hospital. It would be great to do both part time as they are both such a huge challenge. Isn't nursing wonderful with all the areas we have to choose from!!!!

[RNfinally!]

Hello all,
I'm a new nurse of 10 months and I'm currently working part-time childs psych and part-time general peds at a childrens hospital. I had a lot of psych experience prior to nursing school and didn't want to give it up but really wanted to be a medical nurse. I have found that they mix very will and I'm frequently assigned the medical kids in psych and the psych kids on the medical floor. There are days though when I feel I would be futher along in my medical experience if I would have concentrated there coming out of school----However management is very supportive and I'm lucky. I would encourage anyone to pursue a mix!
Good luck all!

[Cay]

Good luck to both of you in your "chosen fields", and congratulations on the jobs too! I too am job searching this week and am egar to get back in the routine.

[sandlewood_nurse]

Well .. I did some research this week and it seem here there are very few ffulltime or even part time positions taht come up in Psych. The turnover is low compared with other areas of nursing. I was told that I would start as a casual and in order to do that I would have to take some courses or a certificate (which I already signed up for). Once you are a casual it could take months or years to get a permanet pt or ft position. This is a bit discouraging but I know for a fact I'm wanted full time in my OR right now. So I will take the course and over the course of a few months go pt or causal in the OR.

I thought with the nursing shoratage there would be more jobs in psych and it woudl be easier to get into. But I guess I will just get more OR experiece and tahts not so bad I guess .. just STRESSFULLLLL

[Cay]

This could be a blessing in disguise! It sounds like you have the right attitude and plan in motion to take necessary courses to increase your chances of a psych position. We are newbies and just getting started, it will take us awhile to cross over a few bridges and get where we want to go. The important thing is learning as we go andwe will become more marketable, not to mention increasing our personal knowledge base.