Sell me on Psych Nursing

Yiggs · Aug 11, 2011

Just like the title says, please sell me on psych nursing. I'm a few years out from graduating, and already looking at potentially becoming a CRNA in the future. Now I'm not going to ramble on but if that doesn't work out then I would look into being an NP. And since there are many different specialties of NP's it's a hard time deciding which one is right for me.
So I ask you to please give me your best reasons to become a psych RN / NP. I'll go over a quick list of pros and cons, so feel free to address these in your replies.
Pros
-Exciting / interesting work
-Variety of pts
-I'm male. Now I'm not insecure about being a nurse in any field ( except maybe women's health for obvious reasons ) but it does seem that more males tend to work in psych.
Cons
-Not as medically oriented ( I like the sciences )
-Meds, diagnosis and just the diseases themselves seem to be vary vague. And some times the reasons behind why the meds work or how the disease comes about isn't very clear. ( This again goes back to the fact that I like the good old fashioned sciences)
I've never worked in psych so these assumptions could be very wrong. So that's why I'm asking you guys.
Thanks
Garrett

I think you could do very well in Psychiatry but you should first work in Psych. as a pool/prn nurse to see what psych nurses do on a daily basis and to see if it is something you would be interested in doing. Although you said indirectly, that you are not much 'up on the medical stuff,' many if not most of the psych patients do have multiple medical diagnosis and a myriad of medical problems.

While you might not have to give continous iv infusions and iv meds, you have to give medications that patient take to treat their medical problems, and you have to be aware of the desired effects, undesired effects and certain drug interactions. Another thing is, the Psychiatric Nurse has to be able to spot when a patient is decompensating medically and intervene appropriatly just as if he/she was working on a medical unit.

Garrett, from personal experience, its not much different from working on medical which I have worked for over twenty years. This is my third year in Psych and there is a need for male nurses, and female nurses feel more secured/safe when they are working with a 'good' male nurse."

My advice is always to start in medical, then transfer to Psych - God forbids something happen and you are laid off or move to another state or country, you will be more marketable having worked both areas. Whatever decision you make do the best you can and be the best you can. All the best:yeah:

skinnegcCNA · Aug 12, 2011

I think you could do very well in Psychiatry but you should first work in Psych. as a pool/prn nurse to see what psych nurses do on a daily basis and to see if it is something you would be interested in doing. Although you said indirectly, that you are not much 'up on the medical stuff,' many if not most of the psych patients do have multiple medical diagnosis and a myriad of medical problems.
While you might not have to give continous iv infusions and iv meds, you have to give medications that patient take to treat their medical problems, and you have to be aware of the desired effects, undesired effects and certain drug interactions. Another thing is, the Psychiatric Nurse has to be able to spot when a patient is decompensating medically and intervene appropriatly just as if he/she was working on a medical unit.
Garrett, from personal experience, its not much different from working on medical which I have worked for over twenty years. This is my third year in Psych and there is a need for male nurses, and female nurses feel more secured/safe when they are working with a 'good' male nurse."
My advice is always to start in medical, then transfer to Psych - God forbids something happen and you are laid off or move to another state or country, you will be more marketable having worked both areas. Whatever decision you make do the best you can and be the best you can. All the best:yeah:

I appreciate your post very much. And I feel it has broadened my knowledge of psych nursing. But I may have been unclear in my original post; I like knowing about disease processes and how the drugs are used to fix them. Aka, gold old fashioned science. An example being cardiology. A lot of things in cardiology seem to be very logical ( if a pt has A then give them B and they will get better ).

I am aware that the knowledge of mental health diseases concerning diagnosis and treatment as grown a tremendous amount in recent years. But from what I'm learning a lot of aspects about the diseases and treatments ( meds specifically ) seem to not be fully understood. This is obviously because of the complexity of the human brain, and our lack of ability to study it.

Obviously we have a good grasp on many mental health diseases such as depression, and have very reliable and scientifically sound ways to deal with them. But I'm mostly talking about more complex issues such as Bi Polar Disorder and Multiple Personalities; These diseases, in contrast to depression, do not seem to be that well understood, which leads to the meds that treat them to not really be understood either. So my question to you is how much of what you do as a psych nursing is based on facts and science, and how much is based on intelligent assumptions as to what exactly is going on.

P.S. I should also toss in that I'm fully aware the Psych field isn't all about meds, and also includes a lot of therapy ( which I feel is just as important). But medications do seem to play a fairy large part in helping people with psych disorders.

Thanks

Garrett

Whispera, MSN, RN · Aug 12, 2011

Quite a good deal in psych is based on science. We've come a long way in understanding how the brain works and how meds work in it to help a person's mental illness improve. I think more will be discovered in the years to come too.

Now, for the disorders that don't fit the chemistry/biology models...how about the science of psychology? People respond to their life-stress in ways that lead some to develop illnesses. Psychology can determine causes and treatments that could work, just as physiological medicine can determine causes and treatments that could work. Also, there are illnesses and personality disorders--one is more treatable by medications and the others aren't so much. The medication-untreatable disorders are treated by the science of psychology. It's just a different way of thinking.

I see you're having trouble wrapping your head around it. It's great that you're asking about it!

cherubhipster · Aug 17, 2011

Do you like actually interacting with patients? Are you good at therapeutic communication? Are you emotionally intelligent? I think these are important. Just something to consider.

funnypsychRN · Aug 20, 2011

If you're a facts and sciences kind of nurse, then I don't recommend psych. Unfortunately, most of what we do is trial and error. But psych has it's own rewards. I never know what's going to walk through my door, I'm never bored, and I get to laugh more than I ever did in med surg. If you're thinking about psych, definately try prn first before you commit. The truth is, not everyone can do psych.

elkpark · Aug 20, 2011

If you need to be "sold" on psych nursing, it's probably not a good choice for you.

NPvampire, MSN, RN, APRN · Sep 9, 2011

Working in psych won't get you to CRNA school. And more than a year in psych will probably kill your chances to get back into the medical hospital at all, around here it does anyway. If you want excitement and a mixed-male environment, why not try the ER? Some CRNA schools accept ER experience. And the ER pays more than psych ever will, and is higher in demand. And...you will see lots of psych come through the ER.

Wabi Sabi, BSN, RN · Sep 10, 2011

I don't think anyone could give you a clear answer just by writing. You should try it for yourself (per diem or part-time). Many psych patients have medical problems (HTN, DM, HIV, Thyroid, etc). Combined those with psych issues, it could be very complex. Plus, you need to have good communication skills in psych (in my opinion, more than other specialties). You should definitely try it out first to see if this is for you.