I Now Know What I Want To Do

[colleenee2]

I AM GETTING IN TO ALL MY PRE'S FOR NURSING, AND I FIGURED OUT WHAT I WANT TO DO. PSYCHOLOGY HAS ALWAYS AMAZED ME, AND WHAT BETTER WAY TO HANDLE MY AMAZMENT THAN BE A PSYCHIATRIC NURSE? I HAVE LOOKED IN TO IT AND FOUND THAT IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE A BAD DECISION. MY FAMILY, ON THE OTHER HAND WANT ME TO RECONSIDER. THEY THINK IT IS GOING TO BE TOO STRESSFUL OF A JOB FOR ME. IM NOT SURE WHY. I HAVE A VERY STRESSFUL JOB NOW WORKING IN A SPECIAL NEEDS PRE-SCHOOL. ANY ADVICE ON HOW TO SWAY MY PARENTS AGAINST THEIR THOUGHTS ABOUT MY CAREER CHOICE?

[Will Benson]

Colleenee2

Congratulations on your choice of Psychiatric Nursing. I have been in nursing 23 years, 15 in psych. I find it fascinating (so much so that I just got my Master's Degree and Nurse Practitioner in Adult Psych). ANY job in nursing is stressful because of the nature of nursing and the current nursing shortage across the country. No one feels neutral about working in a specialty. You either love it or hate it!!! Those that hate it don't stay in it very long. Psychiatric Nursing has along line of distinguished nurses including Hildegarde Peplau, Linda Richards and many others. If your folks are afraid of you being involved in violent situations, I can't lie - violence does occur sometimes, but most hospitals have policies and protocols in place to deal with violent situations.

You must like to work in abstracts. That is what psych is all about. In med/surg you can see if your patient is getting better by observing wounds, checking for pain, etc. This isn't so obvious in psychiatry. Improvements in depression are often very subtle.

Psychiatric nursing needs motivated people. Congratulations on you choice. I hope your parents will come to agree with you!!

Will:roll