Correctional vs Psych nursing

Nurses Career Support

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Hey guys, I'm an RN with two job offers, one in a psych hospital and one in a state prison. I was hoping to get some input on which would be better in the long run, I know a little about each (mostly from the helpful posts on this site), but what direction should I take my career. I'm guessing psych could help me later on if I wanted to be a Psych Nurse Practitioner, how about correctional nursing, what future career opportunities could I find getting into correctional nursing? I hope to further my education in the future and I just don't want to place find myself with limited options. Thanks!

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Specializes in Med/Surg/Onc, LTAC.

I would probably try this in the Correctional Nursing section, and the Psych Nursing section... wish I could help more!

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Specializes in Admin, ER, ICU, Med-Surg.

I loved being a Psych and substance abuse nurse... Not that that helps you much, but I would imagine getting hired at a hospital would allow you to transfer to other jobs within the system if you dislike psych whereas with correctional nursing you would have find a new place to work.

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Specializes in BH.

I worked in both nursing settings and in psych you can always go to different hospitals. In correctional nursing you can go to different levels of corrections, medical corrections or psych corrections. In Psych you have adult, adolescent, children, DD, geriatric, substance abuse, psych home health, call center setting. Personally I like psych better and working with people who can go back to a high level of functioning. Corrections is more difficult because some prisoners are lifers and are more challenging to help with their treatment. As far as NP, they have some in corrections as well as psych.

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Specializes in Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Nursing.

In my opinion, Psych has more career options and flexibility. With corrections, you can only really work for one or two employers, either a state or federal prision (some states have outsourced their prision operations to private companies) system. With Psych, you can potentially work for several different private hospitals or state facilities that have Psych wards.

My vote is for you to go with Psych.

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