As a psych nurse, what non-psych nursing skills do you wish you were stronger in?

TitaniaSidhe · Oct 19, 2005

I guess the first thing that came to my mind was one of my goals in this years proficiency- to get advanced life support certification. Bone up on my skills for functioning in a code, reading strips & such.

CharlieRN · Oct 20, 2005

Infectious diseases and orthopedic care. I'm already pretty strong in a code situation otherwise I would put that first.

sjb2005 · Oct 20, 2005

I'm not really psyche....but I give lots of psyche meds. Would like to know more than what the books say based on experiences of nurses in the field.

What are the most effective drugs for the disease. What side effects do you see?

Saoudishabiba · Oct 20, 2005

I would like to get ACLS and PALS certifications. I work in an outpatient clinic and those classes are not offered. They are offered at the local hospital to employees only. Where else would you get those type of certifications from?:uhoh21:

Thunderwolf, MSN, RN · Oct 21, 2005

Keep it coming folks. Maybe as psych nurses, we can formulate some good list of topics for additional learning for ourselves here. Then, when the chat room really gets up and running, we can meet there for awhile with some guest members as speakers (I'll invite them) to bring us up to snuff a little and/or give us some pointers/directions. Sound like a good idea?

Keep on thinking about those learning needs. What would help your practice as a psychiatric nurse become more effective or well rounded?

Thanks for the input thus far.

solagratia · Dec 4, 2005

More education on common diseases such as diabetes, chf, etc and the interaction with psychotropics...

Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN · Dec 5, 2005

Good idea for a thread, Wolfie!

Future psych RN here. (Graduate in June.)

Thunderwolf, MSN, RN · Dec 5, 2005

Keep up with the input...like to see more.

Thanks everyone!

guitarguy2 · Dec 5, 2005

I would like to know more about diabetes, and also various neurovascular problems, such as stroke, head trauma, etc. Those problems seem to have a lot of overlapping symptoms with psych disorders, so training in how to differentiate between these problems would be helpful, in case someone on the unit started displaying some new abnormal behaviors.

anbreen · Sep 16, 2007

I would like to get ACLS and PALS certifications. I work in an outpatient clinic and those classes are not offered. They are offered at the local hospital to employees only. Where else would you get those type of certifications from?:uhoh21:

Check the Heart Assn w/s. They will have listings in your area.

Katnip, RN · Oct 13, 2007

I'm curious why folks feel the need for ACLS and PALS in psych. Odds are you aren't going to have enough equipment and manpower that is also certified in your units, plus folks to intubate and put in a central line. BLS and AEDs is fine until those with all the stuff arrive.