Behavioral Health Nurse- break from floor nursing? - page 2

Psych nursing is medical/floor nursing, just in a different way. Psych can be physically and emotionally draining but it can also be extremely rewarding. I would encourage you to read some of the posts in this area. There are a lot of GREAT summaries of what psych nursing is all about.

Good luck to you!

Our patients in the psych hospital have many medical issues too. However, primarily, we deal with strange behaviors, verbal/physical abuse from these patients. Sometimes they're hallucinating; most often they are not. It's a VERY CHALLENGING field and VERY EMOTIONALLY STRESSFUL. On my ward, there is not much physical abuse but there is an abundance of verbal abuse which can truly wear one down. Yes, it can also be physically stressful..as in when we staff have to restrain/seclude a patient while that patient is spitting at us, cursing, striking out. I have about 5 years left to work before retirement; I only hope I can make it through without pulling out my hair.