college

[TheNewDino]

i want to go to college next fall and have had the hardest time deciding on behavioral health and social services or nursing. but heck, why don't i do both. psych nursing sounds exactly what i want to be. what do you have to go to school for, just nursing, or do you have to take extra classes as well? i'd like to work in a mental hospital setting. i'll be taking a cna course next month (if i'm accepted, my interview is on the 30th) and working as one throughout school.

thanks in advanced for any advice

~michelle

[suzanne4, RN]

You need to get a degree that will permit you to work as a RN in the US, then you can go on and specialize with a further degree or just get the training that you need for that at the facility

In the US, we are trained as generalists first, then can go on and specialize.

[elkpark]

Psych nursing will be included in any RN program in the US, and, once you are licensed, you just have to find an entry-level job on a psych unit.

There is a long-standing debate in psych nursing about whether one should work as a med-surg nurse for a year or two before going into the specialty. There are some older threads here that discuss the different views on that, if you are interested in reviewing them. Some psych facilities won't hire new graduate nurses without some med-surg experience; some will. It depends on lots of different factors, not least of which is how desperate they are for staff.

Once you are employed in psych nursing, you will find there are lots of continuing education opportunities that can help you learn more about psych nursing specifically and improve your knowledge/skills. There are also the options of pursuing national certification in the specialty, and of getting a graduate degree in psych nursing.

I've been a psych nurse for ~20 years (~10 years as a generalist (staff) nurse, and ~10 years as a psych CS), and I'm one of those psych nurses who would go hungry before I'd do other kinds of nursing. I recommend it highly, but it's certainly not for everyone.

If you go to nursing school, you will have the opportunity to rotate through many different nursing settings/specialties, and have an opportunity to see whether psych nursing is what you may want to do. Many of us (myself included) started nursing school sure that we knew what specialty we wanted to pursue, and, by the time we graduated, had gravitated to something completely different.

Best wishes on your journey! :balloons:

[Thunderwolf, MSN, RN]

Buddy, I wish you the best in your decision.