Good for you! Welcome, welcome to the wonderful world of psych nursing! I passed NCLEX last Jan, was licensed last Feb. I went straight into psych and have no regrets. I always felt called to psych and felt at home during psych clinical. I felt like a deer in headlights for almost all of med/surg. I currently work with patients in the community, and yes you will see a lot of medical problems. Our population is not a very healthy bunch, the severely mentally ill have a life expectancy of 25 years less than people without a mental illness. A lot is due to poor lifestyle choices (drinking, drugging, risky sexual behaviors, smoking like a chimney and poor eating habits). Some are also due to the meds. Many of the newer antipsychotic medications can cause enormous weight gain, insulin resistance, and hypercholerterolemia. Most common chronic somatic illnesses you will see are diabetes, heart disease and COPD.
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Feb 19 by TerpGal02Good for you! Welcome, welcome to the wonderful world of psych nursing! I passed NCLEX last Jan, was licensed last Feb. I went straight into psych and have no regrets. I always felt called to psych and felt at home during psych clinical. I felt like a deer in headlights for almost all of med/surg. I currently work with patients in the community, and yes you will see a lot of medical problems. Our population is not a very healthy bunch, the severely mentally ill have a life expectancy of 25 years less than people without a mental illness. A lot is due to poor lifestyle choices (drinking, drugging, risky sexual behaviors, smoking like a chimney and poor eating habits). Some are also due to the meds. Many of the newer antipsychotic medications can cause enormous weight gain, insulin resistance, and hypercholerterolemia. Most common chronic somatic illnesses you will see are diabetes, heart disease and COPD.Meriwhen likes this.
Good luck! 
