Children's psych...

Specialties Psychiatric

Published

I am a nursing student and, despite my prior reservations, have found myself extremely interested in children's psych. I recently had a clinical rotation in long term pediatric psych in a facility in my area and I really liked it. I would love to hear from nurses about their experiences, 'day in the life', etc. I have read quite a bit here, but haven't seen much on this. Thanks!

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I am also interested to know what a "day in the life" is like. I, too, am interested in children's psych.

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

Thank the Lord for folks like you two! I imagine it would take some kind of 'special' to work in that field! I hope there are some children's psych nurses out there who will respond......Anybody?

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I work in child and adolescent psych. I am specialized in eating disorders, but definitely deal with mood disorders, self-harm, suicide, OCD, and other anxiety disorders.It is constantly busy. All my friends are medsurg nurses and do not understand that I do not sit behind a desk all day. I am always up in the milieu, with the kids. Meds are scheduled typically 2-3 times a day. You usually have at least one child having a difficult day. A lot of the adult psych nurses I know say working with kids is harder but I enjoy the kids because they are more likely to work towards a positive change in their life. It is always busy , you have your days when you ask yourself why you work in psych and other days it is extremely rewarding and fun.

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I have worked in child psych many years, first as a staff nurse and, for the last 20 years, as a child psych CNS. Back when I worked as a staff nurse on a really tough, tertiary care adolescent acute psych inpatient unit (we drew from all over the eastern US, a year was not a long stay, a "good" shift was when no one got hurt -- but I don't mean to make it sound awful; I really enjoyed it), people would ask me about my job. My best explanation that I came up with over time was, "It's not really like any kind of nursing job you would be familiar with -- it's more like being a mom with 24 really bad kids." :)

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Thanks for the replies so far! I have kind of odd, diverse interests and I'm trying to decide where to head when I graduate in April. The facility in my area hires new grads. I actually had no interest in this before my clinical rotation, but something about it just felt right.

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Specializes in psychiatric.

"It's not really like any kind of nursing job you would be familiar with -- it's more like being a mom with 24 really bad kids." elkpark

I work with kids and adolescents and I have to say that elkpark describes it exactly.

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Specializes in Psych.

In addition to the "mom with 24 really bad kids" thing just know that in psych, if you are going to be hit, kicked, bit, or spit on, 9 times out of 10 it's going to he by a child. And I'm talking the under 12s. Adolescents at times too, but more often the little ones. They don't have that executive functioning yet. If they want to hit you, they will. I worked with all ages at my last job at a free standing inpt facility and our quiet rooms were always filled by the kids. That said, C&A is still my favorite :)

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Specializes in Psych.

But cant adult psych feel like being a mom to 24 bad children too. Especially when you the unit is mostly in their late teens to mid 20's. Throw in d&a and they are stagnated at the time they started so they may be 30 but functioning like a 15 year old.

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Don't forget that with C/A psych you also have to deal with the families who many times are the root of the patient's problems. Certainly not in every case but as the saying goes..."the apple doesn't fall far from the tree..."

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I work on a children's unit and my patients range from age 2 to 12. Everyone gets up in the morning, does hygiene, eats breakfast, takes meds, then heads to school. We have a very structured environment for them. I find they do a lot better when they have structure and consistency as those are traits often not found in their homes. My facility gets a lot of oppositional defiant disorders, ADHD, anxiety, sexually acting out, and depression. I have been cussed out often and the children can be very physical, more so than the adolescents I have worked with. I agree that the parents often have the same traits and the kids have definitely learned a lot of their behaviors from those they live with.

I haven't had a day yet where I've gone in and not enjoyed my job. It can be busy and overwhelming at times with numerous admissions and discharges, treatment team meetings, new orders, etc. But I have found that it feels really nice when a patient came in with a horrible demeanor and full of anger and leaves, able to use new coping skills, behave appropriately, and understand their triggers. Good for you for wanting to do child psych. I absolutely love it!

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Specializes in Mental Health.

I have experience in child, adolescent, adult, and geriatric inpatient psych as well as a specialized unit for autistic patients. I would honestly say working with children is my least favorite. It is really sad how manipulative some of the children can be even though a lot of them have suffered abuse. Dealing with the parents can also be quite difficult. I like working with adults especially the young adults and adolescents I don't mind either. If you enjoyed your child psych rotation maybe choose that area for your final clinical hours to get a better idea if it will be a good fit for you.

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