How Is Psyche Nursing?

I love psych nursing. I'm still amazed at the things that I witness patients with pscyh problems do to themselves/others. Fascinating to me. I work in a State run psych hospital and call tell you the work is challenging, plentiful, violent, dramatic (especially with borderline patients), well paying, and in high demand in my state. I also started in my mid-20's (I'm 29 now) like you and am a lpn student looking to graduate in june of 2006. I'm exploring correctional nursing too. Oh, it also helps that I am 6'1'' 275 lbs and have been the winner of powerlifting championships in the past...I think my longevitiy in the psych field has be greatly helped by those tidbits since I'm seen dozens of fellow co-workers go out on workman's comp from restraints/patient attacks right before my eyes. If I would have let patients get the best of me in some of the restraints I've been involved in I would of been toast right now. Still, I love the field.

Psych nursing is the best! I think so anyway...

I'm very serious about getting into Psych nursing. I start school for it next August but I hadn't really heard how many patients are violent and need restraint. I'm currently a 100lb petite person and I know that currently I don't posses the power or training to restrain someone twice my size. On a second note most people I know ARE twice my size.

Would you recommend any extra training I should look at getting besides my degree to be sucessful in psych nursing?
How often do psych nurses restrain patients? Daily, Weekly, Hourly?
If this job is extra physically demanding I would like to know so that I can attempt to prepare myself.

Aggghhh! Thank you for helping me considered these issues I hadn't thought about yet!

interesting......very interesting.

Psych nursing can be very interesting; however, nurses of other professions think psych nurses don't keep their "skills", and that is putting it nicely. Some think they can't survive for instance in med/surg.; I know this to be true only as far as time management is concerned. The new technologies and fast pace in the hospital can be very intimidating. Also, if a hospital nurse transition to psych; they might feel intimidated also. Keep abreast with nursing journals, and part time med/surg. because sometimes you never know when you might consider going into med/surg. or something else. There are more jobs in med/surg and hospitals vs. psych.

Pixie,

If you are a petite female and you are working on a psyc hospital ward I would not worry about having to do too many (or even any at all!) since everywhere that I have worked (many, many different psyc hospitals) the men won't allow you to participate in them. I know for me as a male (a 6'2'', 275lbs. 400lb bench pressing one, no less :-) ) I would take it personally, and I think most males would too, if I were to stand by and watch a female do a restraint and get hurt...so I participate in them all. Especially in larger psyc hospitals and even large regular hospitals that have a 10 bed psyc ward the men or security staff on and from other units do all the restraints. The hospitals actually have what's called a "psyc emergency" button on each ward that staff can push that sounds an alarm throughout the hospital for staff to go to your unit to help you out. Usually, when you push that button you'll have a sea of people rushing onto your unit with gloves on prepared for restraints...you just point them in the direction of where the problem is.

The only thing that you would have to worry about is never turn your back on a nearby patient if you out in a common area because there always is the chance of a cheap shot. I know one woman was talking to staff while she was on one to one and a patient was walking behind her and cheap shotted her in the back of the head. Morale is to never get comfortable enough to forget you're on a psyc ward.

Psyc is a great specialty that hospitals have a hard time filling positions for since the stigma is that you have to restrain every minute you're there. I think if you try it you might like it.