[tabswife]

I am doing my psych rotation and i hate it. I have found that this type of nursing is not my area. I have all of my other peers who love it but i just can't wait for this rotation to end.(i have 2 more weeks) Does this make me a bad nurse for feeling this way. I love working on the medical floor and next is my maternity rotation which i am jacked about.(I want to be a OB nurse!) I just can't wrap my mind around this aspect of nursing! any suggestions?

[allimariee]

Everyone will find their own niche, and not everyone loves psych nursing. It's okay not to love everything! Just put a smile on, stick it out, and go into an area of nursing you love when you graduate!

[ffweste]

tabswife - same thing. I have a job in OB after I graduate and I am doing my psych rotation now. Everyday while I am there, I just try to make the best of it and learn what I can. I am trying to convince myself that psych nursing is an area of nursing that we have to experience. You never know if you will have a patient who is afflicted with a mental illness even in OB.

[GingerSue]

psychiatry may not be your area of choice, but you might still
encounter patients experiencing psychiatric difficulties wherever you
choose to work (for eg. someone with hypercalcemia can develop
psychosis, and various other medications can results in hallucinations
as a side effect - these people might be your patients on a
surgical unit or a medical unit). It is therefore important that you
be able to recognize these difficulties and be able to manage them.

[traumaRUs]

The totally neat thing about nursing is the variety. Personally, I couldn't stand psych or OB - lol. I ended up in ER and love trauma! So...to each his own. Get thru the clinical experience and go from there. Take care.

[Perpetual Student]

Disliking one specialty does not make you a bad nurse, regardless of what it is. Just try to keep an open mind and to learn as much as you can, especially concerning effectively communicating with the patients. Many of the skills you need to use during this rotation will translate into your practice in other specialties.

You will probably have to work with mentally ill people at some point in your career, even if you become an OB nurse. Mentally ill folks have babies, too. As a matter of fact, during my OB rotation in school the vast majority of the patients had substance abuse or mental illness issues. Having experience dealing with patients with those types of concerns will make it easier to focus on your job and not go crazy yourself when you encounter one.

[mb1949]

Originally Posted by tabswife

I am doing my psych rotation and i hate it. I have found that this type of nursing is not my area. I have all of my other peers who love it but i just can't wait for this rotation to end.(i have 2 more weeks) Does this make me a bad nurse for feeling this way. I love working on the medical floor and next is my maternity rotation which i am jacked about.(I want to be a OB nurse!) I just can't wrap my mind around this aspect of nursing! any suggestions?

Oh I am so glad you wrote, I hate it too, if I had to repeat this course, I would probably leave nursing school, I don't know what it is? but I just dread it, I love my clinical instructor, she is the best in the world, but I can't get my head into it, 2 more clinicals and a final--that's it.

[tabswife]

I don't mind the theory part of psych, I just don't like that clinical portion. I am well aware that I will encounter patients on the floor that might have a mental illness. I just don't like the being locked on a unit with 20 of them at once. I am very uncomfortable and it hasn't been a good experience so far. than!ks to all that responded! have a good day.

[DutchgirlRN]

Originally Posted by tabswife

I am doing my psych rotation and i hate it. I have found that this type of nursing is not my area. I have all of my other peers who love it but i just can't wait for this rotation to end.(i have 2 more weeks) Does this make me a bad nurse for feeling this way. I love working on the medical floor and next is my maternity rotation which i am jacked about.(I want to be a OB nurse!) I just can't wrap my mind around this aspect of nursing! any suggestions?

There are areas of nursing that are definately not for me and others that I truly enjoy. Thankfully nursing is so diverse that we can make choices. Best of luck.

[jeepdude]

Hi!! I am currently in Adult Nursing II, and going through my second rotation of psych. I have to say, I hate it as well. All of it...lol But... you are most likely going to run into psych patients no matter where you procatice, so this is a much needed learning experience. I also work in a nursing home, and found what I have learned has helped me understand some situations with the elderly as well. I know from my rotations on the med-surg floor, they get psych patients/situations all the time. I am just trying to grin and bear it and get through it. I only have one week and 2 more clinical shifts at the psych hospital, thank God!! Good luck to you!!