Bay Area Psych

PS1CK, BSN, RN · Feb 23, 2015

Hey there! Well first of all, congratulations on being a nurse and welcome aboard to this wonderful and rewarding career. I mean that. You will find that, regardless of the type of nurse you become, what you do makes a difference in the lives of other people and this will, hopefully, be the driving force that keeps you at your best in providing care for those who really need you.

That being said, I applaud you for wanting to become a psych nurse. I've been a psych nurse my whole career (despite what people say about jumping straight into a specialty, I can attest to the fact that you don't NEED to do medical-surgical nursing for the first two years). I started my first job in 2009 after graduating in 2008 and I've stayed with the field ever since. I can tell you this, we need more psych nurses. So there's part of your question answered: there is an INCREASING demand for us and what we do. As far as job opportunities, let's go into detail.

Depending on your degree, you may need to start out as a floor nurse working in a psychiatric inpatient hospital. With this job, you'll be taking patient loads of about 5-6 patients (shouldn't be more unless the company you work for disregards staffing ratios, which, unfortunately, some do). You'll be assessing their suicidality, symptoms, side effects to medications, and so forth and charting all your findings in a computer. You'll be getting orders from doctors both for medical and psychiatric stuff and you'll get to go home after 8 hours (most places are switching to 8 hour shifts). After you do this for awhile and get the necessary experience, you'll be able to expand your horizons a bit and open up a few more doors to new and exciting career opportunities.

I was an inpatient nurse for about 5 years plus, working at one hospital where I also got to do some clinical informatics stuff (designing the interface for which our hospital was going to use for an electronic medical record). That was fun. My expertise in the computer arena is what landed me that gig which I did for about a year. So really, if you have any additional skills like computer knowledge, etc. - you can find yourself doing work in those arenas as well as what you're doing on the floor as a nurse. Clinical informatics is a huge and blossoming arena in which nurses may find themselves. It's mostly computer work and collaborating with other team members of various disciplines like pharmacists, physicians, etc. so do keep your options open.

After you gain about 2 years experience on the floor, you can look at other options. I currently feel blessed as I got a job with Kaiser recently working as a liaison between patients and their psychiatrists. What I do, I sit in front of a computer and make calls. My computer pops a message (kind of like an email) whenever a patient calls in or has a request that they'd like to speak to their doctor about. I then call the patient and gather more information and then send it off to the doctor as a note and wait for a response. When the doctor responds, I then call the patient back and let them know what the update was. It sounds easy but it can get complicating when medications and orders are involved. In any case, this job really requires me to use the best of my psych nursing skills to assess the patients over the phone and be able to "pick up" on little hints that they might leave that things aren't well. It's an astute skill set to determine whether or not someone's really suicidal or just asking for attention and you can never be too cautious when dealing with the lives of others.

Anyhow, the pay is amazing. Since you're in the Bay Area, I'm sure you'll be able to attest to this. I was making well over $100,000 a year with Dignity Health when I was a nurse with them and currently make around $130,000 a year with Kaiser, which will continue to go up as new developments with the union (CNA) come out and annual raises are not uncommon.

I hope this helped! If you have any other questions, let me know!

EllTee2B · Feb 23, 2015

Thanks so very much for taking the time to be so helpful. It is very much appreciated. Sounds like you might be familiar with the Bay Area. Would you happen to have any general knowledge on hospitals that hire new grads for psych. Seems like most searches yield more on med/surg.

PS1CK, BSN, RN · Feb 23, 2015

You're welcome. And I'm not so sure about psych hospitals in the Bay Area, but I do know that St. Joseph's Behavioral Health Center in Stockton (where I worked) is frequently short staffed and in need of RN's. They'll even take you if you're a new grad as they're generally that desperate to cover positions. If you're willing to move a bit inland towards the valley, it might be a great place to start your career. They would likely hire you as a per diem at first and you'd likely start out at... I'm guessing here... $40 an hour? It quickly goes up from there with CNA being the union and all.

That's where I got my first start and I'm thankful for the experience. You'll get to rotate as being house supervisor and intake/assessment as well as being a charge nurse on the units. It's a small hospital with only 35 beds so the clientele are pretty easy to manage for the most part. 16 beds are dedicated to geriatrics (dementia and related illnesses), 8 beds to higher functioning patients that are usually depressed or detoxing, and 11 beds for the more acute, psychotic, younger patients.

Let me know if you need any other help in general regarding psych nursing!

EllTee2B · Feb 23, 2015

Easily one of the most helpful nurses on allnurses. Thank you again. Take care. Much appreciated!!!!

PS1CK, BSN, RN · Feb 25, 2015

Hey, I'm here to help any way I can. Part of being a good, responsible nurse is taking care of your peers as well as your patients. We're all in this together, I say. :)

PsychRN65 · Mar 20, 2015

Hi @Elltee2b, check out John George Psychiatric Pavillion in San Leandro, Ca. It is part of the Alameda County hospital system. I did a 3 month tour there in 2007. Can't say what it is like now, but if I had decided to stay, I would have had no reservations about applying for a permanent position. Good luck to you..

outsidegirl · Apr 10, 2018

I am in OP's shoes right now. I am about to graduate with my BSN and am passionate about psych nursing. I live the the Bay Area. However, every psych RN job posting I've seen requires at least 1 year of previous psych nursing experience, which I don't have. What should I do? Do I even stand a chance if I apply anyways? Thanks!

Heylove, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Apr 11, 2018

I am in OP's shoes right now. I am about to graduate with my BSN and am passionate about psych nursing. I live the the Bay Area. However, every psych RN job posting I've seen requires at least 1 year of previous psych nursing experience, which I don't have. What should I do? Do I even stand a chance if I apply anyways? Thanks!

I would apply, even with that request for one year experience. Focus on your psych rotation experience in school, your passion for the psych patient population and why. I didn't have the required 1 year experience and I was able to land my dream psych job as a new grad.

verene, MSN · Apr 14, 2018

I am in OP's shoes right now. I am about to graduate with my BSN and am passionate about psych nursing. I live the the Bay Area. However, every psych RN job posting I've seen requires at least 1 year of previous psych nursing experience, which I don't have. What should I do? Do I even stand a chance if I apply anyways? Thanks!

I'd second applying anyway. Job descriptions are frequently for the "dream" applicant, and even if you don't tick every box but are an otherwise solid candidate chances are a manager will at least bring you in for an interview.

I didn't have the 1-2 years psych RN experience my employer was looking for but my manager was pretty upfront about the fact that she'll take a genuine interest in the working in the field and limited experience over lots of nursing experience and someone desperate for a job who has no desire to actually be there. Focus on your interest, psych rotation in school, and any mental health experience you've had in other settings (including non-psych clinicals, general life experience, and any professional mental health experience in non-nursing capacity).

applebananahonayyyy, BSN · Sep 16, 2019

Looking for a per diem position in psych and am wondering who can share some insight on the inpatient psych hospitals in the Bay area (between Berkeley and San Jose). Specifically, working conditions (pt ratios, staffing, teamwork), pay, and safety. I've heard good things about Kaiser and El Camino, but Kaiser requires at least 2 yrs experience to apply.