working as a psych nurse for an agency

[thekid]

Hi all, I recently spoke with a staffing coordinator for an agency in a large city..I told her about my current experience, which has been case management with behavioral health members. I have not worked in a psychiatric hospital before but am very comfortable with med passes and long term care facilities from previous experience. She sounded confident that my experience was enough to get me work at various facilities.

I did agency work as an LPN in long term care and then worked briefly as an RN before case management. Any tips on working agency in a psychiatric hospital setting? I know with LTC a benefit was working the same facility so that I could get to know the residents, any other advice? I have long wanted to work as a psych nurse and although I have not worked in a psychiatric hospital, the case management has given me a different set of skills.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Psych isn't all about med passes...and to be honest, as a RN you won't do a lot of med passes--they usually have a LVN for that. Nor are psych hospitals long-term...state/government hospitals may have the longer-term cases, but most people stay a week or less in a psych facility.

The agency should provide you with a good orientation to each facility that you are working at--mine gave me a day's orientation on each of the units. Keep in mind that the orientation won't be Psych 101, but more about how things work at the facility itself. So in your free time, start brushing up on therapeutic communication skills and your basic psychiatric ailments and meds.

Best of luck!