Help! What kind of Nurse am I describing?

[SoundMind]

Hey guys! This is my first post, love the site so far! So I am getting my core classes out of the way to get into a nursing program. I am having trouble figuring out if my goals are realistic in what I want to do as a nurse, or even if nursing is where I need to be to accomplish those goals!

I want to work in mental health. I would like to have conversations with the patients and be involved in diagnosing and treating their issues. I would also like to be involved in the day to day quality of life stuff that the patients need. I basically want to be like a super involved psychology nurse hybrid. At first I wanted to go into social work through psych, but there seems to be more of a focus on patients and less research with nursing. Am I describing a job? Am I describing nursing? Help please!

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

I think you are describing a nurse who works in psych/ mental health.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Nurses are not involved in diagnosing anyone, unless they work as an advanced practice nurse, such as a Psych NP.

Being super involved in quality of life, day to day issues sounds like case management.

Getting into both or either of those will require you to work as a psych RN for a couple of years and that is a good start. Becoming a Psych NP requires a Masters degree or higher. However, you do need to know that research (known as evidence based practice in these parts) is part of any and all Nursing Jobs you take.