UGH! I Hate Psychiatric Nursing ....

spore2008 · Sep 25, 2011

I have volunteered on a locked ward in a well-known psychiatric hospital in NY and absolutely LOVE it! Different strokes for different folks (trite, I know). You'll get through it...we all cannot love the same things or be good at everything. Your rotation will be over soon and you can focus further on what suits you best!

metricalpound · Sep 25, 2011

Actually - I'm doing my psych. clinical now and I feel the complete opposite of you. I love it. I love the danger, the stories, the patients and the people who work with them. I'm convinced that if I don't go psych., I'm going to be in the ED...but I want to go psych. so badly.

Either way, like the poster above said, different strokes for different folks.

suanna · Sep 25, 2011

I don't care if you work ICL, L&D or Psyc- you are going find a lot of your patients are nuttier than a fruitcake wherever they are admitted. People with severe psyc problems can develop a hot gall bladder just like the rest of us. The skills you gain in this rotation will be more valuable to you than you think now- pay attention. I hated psyc too- I still do after 25yrs in critical care- but I still have plenty of psyc patients.

Freedom42 · Sep 25, 2011

All nursing is psych nursing. Until you grasp this, your communication will not be therapeutic.

Mandychelle79, ASN, RN · Sep 25, 2011

My only piece of advise is never say never. While in school I worked on a psych floor as an aide. I said I did not want remain on psych but start out on med/surg. 3 months after passing NCLEX and 80 applications in, guess where I am working. Yep, psych.

Despareux · Sep 25, 2011

Love it so far. There is such a strong mind-body connection to health; if you throw in some peds, then I've found my niche.

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Sep 25, 2011

Of course I am aware that psychiatric concepts will transcend any nursing area, it would be uncouth of me to even assume I can avoid it in nursing ... I just don't want to dedicate my entire career to that specialty. Ironic as it is, my first BA was in psychology ... :rolleyes:

Pneumothorax, BSN, RN · Sep 25, 2011

def. wasnt my favorite rotation, but there are tools i aquired from theory/clinical that i use for my other rotations...

mangopeach · Sep 25, 2011

I love Psych, my plan is to do psych nursing after I finish school. However, I do understand. To put it mildy, Pediatrics was my least favorite rotation. I am so glad its over. I still have a few weeks of Peds lecture to go and I find that I don't have the same drive to study for it as I've had for other classes. We all have our likes and dislikes. But like others have mentioned, I have to just try to get the most out of it. After all, children have psych issues too. But I totally get where you are coming from. It can be a drag getting through those rotations that you don't really enjoy as much as the others.

ImThatGuy, BSN, RN · Sep 25, 2011

We didn't have clinicals, but I really liked the lecture and made an A in it. I noticed most others in the class did not though. I had abnormal psychology back when I received my first degree several years ago, and although I made an A in it I thought it was boring.

I think the difference for me and the mental health/psych nursing class is that I've spent so long dealing with people in law enforcement is that I saw a practical application for everything the book and teacher mentioned. It wasn't just hocus pocus like a lot of classes are. Over time, experience had taught me many of the things the teacher was telling, but it was fun. I'd work in a psych environment. Heck, just in the last two hours I talked down a 17 year old wanting to kill himself and then dealth with a 14 year old diagnosed with O.D.D. who was fighting with his mother. Typical day in the neighborhood - nursing or not.

skeez · Sep 26, 2011

yeah I wasn't a fan of it either. The theory/lecture is interesting, but this area is not for me. What i took away from the class is how to interview patients and what not to say. Maybe its just me but I felt that the staff and MD's during this rotation were super nice. Almost like they are trying to get any student to join this speciality