Can Psychology relate to nursing?

AspiringNurseMW · Jan 21, 2015

What kind of things specifically do you see correlation in.

In my opinion, you are dealing with people ALL day, CO workers, bosses, patients. Patients who are likely having their worst day and/or already have a degree of physiological issues. I can see so many ways in which Psych can relate to and enhance being a nurse. There is also a whole field of Psych Nursing so there's that too.

Beautiful_Soul · Jan 21, 2015

What kind of things specifically do you see correlation in.
In my opinion, you are dealing with people ALL day, CO workers, bosses, patients. Patients who are likely having their worst day and/or already have a degree of physiological issues. I can see so many ways in which Psych can relate to and enhance being a nurse. There is also a whole field of Psych Nursing so there's that too.

I see, after I posted this I did a little question asking on google (my fav) lol and I saw that I can be a psych nurse also. I know it might not go into much depth as opposed to psych major, but it can introduce me to it. Thanks :)

kolabee · Jan 21, 2015

I've considered doing this. Since you only work 3 days a week, you could feasibly work a couple days a week as a therapist.

elkpark · Jan 21, 2015

Since psychology is the study of human thinking and behavior, it relates to everything else humans do (which is why it's such a popular major for people who want an undergraduate degree but haven't decided yet what specific field they want to go into). Be aware that, if you're planning on going into nursing, a psychology degree will not particularly help you professionally. Psychiatric nursing is an option.

As for working part-time as a therapist, you need a graduate degree and licensure/certification to be qualified to do therapy. That's a lot of trouble to go to for a part-time job "on the side." To me, if that's what someone wants to do, it would make more sense to skip nursing and just focus on getting the education and credentials to be a psychotherapist.

RescueNinjaKy · Jan 21, 2015

I really want to be a nurse, however when I look up the things with a Psychology major it seems to relate closely to nursing, besides pt care etc. When I looked at the learning objective, it jumped out at me as something I'm very interested in ALSO. I just wanted to know if there's anyone who is a LPN/RN that also have a background and or degree in Psychology, or who may be thinking about going back to school to study psychology? Just curious

As a general rn you're not gonna be as in depth on psych, however for psych rns there's a lot. You're dealing with a lot of psych drugs which are very potent. You're going to be doing focused psychosocial assessments and your evaluations on how the patient is responding to therapy is very important to the healthcare team. Furthermore you're very likely to be participating in therapeutic groups, interviews, admission and discharge.

All of these tasks require an in depth knowledge of psych to be able to successfully implement the nursing process. Also from there you can work onto becoming a pmhnp if psych and nursing is what you want to do.

RainMom · Jan 21, 2015

"Can psychology relate to nursing?"

Yes. Half the people we deal with are crazy. And not all of them are pts.

Seriously though, as an instructor was fond of telling my class, "Everyone is a psych pt." Take a look at the med list for the majority of pts & they are taking antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzos, etc. Go into psych nursing if you want to help those with severe active symptoms. Otherwise on a medical floor, you'll deal with the little idiosyncrasies that we all have as part of the human race & are considered "normal".

wildearth · Jan 21, 2015

I absolutely think psychology relates, and would be helpful.

I am planning on pursing my BA/BS in Psychology along with my BSN. Though my ultimate goal is not to provide therapy, I am going into midwifery and there are endless psychological aspects to pregnancy/birth/postpartum that I feel I need to be more familiar with than I would be if I just did my BSN. It doesn't hurt that psychology has become my second passion since starting college, and I'm super excited by learning about it.

Overall, I think that if it interests you, go for it. It will definitely benefit you and help you stand out in a sea of BSN applicants during the job hunt.

elkpark · Jan 21, 2015

I am going into midwifery and there are endless psychological aspects to pregnancy/birth/postpartum that I feel I need to be more familiar with than I would be if I just did my BSN.

That is v. true, but a midwifery program is going to cover those issues in a lot more depth than a BA or BS in psychology is going to. And I encourage you to take a look at all the threads here about people who are v. disappointed to find that an undergraduate degree in psychology doesn't really help them professionally in nursing.

wildearth · Jan 21, 2015

That is v. true, but a midwifery program is going to cover those issues in a lot more depth than a BA or BS in psychology is going to. And I encourage you to take a look at all the threads here about people who are v. disappointed to find that an undergraduate degree in psychology doesn't really help them professionally in nursing.

Honestly for me, the professional benefits aren't a concern, it's more personal interest driven. I was just mentioning it as a possibility for the OP. I haven't done much research on the potential benefits, but IMO more education never looks bad.

And the great thing about the school I've chosen for my BSN is that they have a flexible psychology program that can be pretty tailored to the field you're interested in, so I'll be taking the health psychology route. It's an interest of mine I would like to explore and if it can relate to my field then that's just icing on the cake!

RN_Sara · Jan 21, 2015

My first degree was in psychology. I have a masters in counseling and have a license to practice. I went back to school for nursing. I was a psych nurse for a bit but didnt love it after working ED. ED gives me both medical and psych since so many of our pts are psych patients too

marayazam · Jan 22, 2015

I always had a preference for health care in the back burner but, when I began to study my best option was to get a B.A. in psychology. It was something interesting, affordable and schedules were compatible with my former F.T. job. I even pursued a license in marriage and family therapy but funny how things work in life; that opportunity did not materialized in the end... Here I am starting my first semester of nursing school and Im enjoying it big time, I'm actually liking it a lot more than psychology regardless of the fact that I have to study 3x more, lol.

I live in Costa Rica and psychology here is a very young science (the first school opened just 40 years ago). So, as much as the academic side is very interesting and you learn a lot, the actual field still has a lot missing (regulations, organization, and so on), so it's kind of a degraded profession in which I have decided I don't want to work at.

Nursing on the other hand, has a way more verifiable way to find if the work you are doing with a patient is actually helping him/her.

Of course this is coming from my personal experience and it wont be like this for everyone.

From what I know, I think both fields go great together, both are oriented to caring people and are highly rewarding. Im extremely happy I made the choice to enter nursing school, and probably the previous experience from Psychology has a big input in this satisfaction.