Considering psych?

[heathert_kc]

I was an LPN in LTC for 4 years, as an RN I worked Ortho (minor back injury scared me away from bedside nursing), I was a clinical supervisor for a home health company for 2 years, then took a case management job for an insurance company... I just feel unfulfilled ? I do paperwork but it is super busy, working from home is distracting and there is never an escape from work. I have been thinking about making a change, be it go back to school for something totally different or some different nursing field. What are the pros and cons of psych nursing? Why do you love it? Why do some not?

It’s hard to jump in head first, nerve racking as I have kids and a husband and right now I provide insurance.

[Zookeeper44, RN]

I was a psych nurse (still consider myself one) and left almost 2 years ago for an RN Supervisor position in Home Care. I hate it...I really regret leaving psych and am trying to get back to it or possibly school nursing. I totally get the unfulfilling part of administrative work, it is ALLLL about numbers and money 24/7 ? Not my cup of tea. Psych is both frustrating and fulfilling, you will have people you are really able to help and some you can't...but the facility where I was, you had a lot of opportunity to talk to and interact with patients, not like floor nursing. I worked psych for 8+ years, had to help with quite a few takedowns/holds/restraints, gave a lotta PRN's for agitation, but have never been directly attacked. I guess I was good at ducking ?

[Jbgood]

I’ve worked as a psych RN for over 3 years. Before that I worked on a post op surgical floor for a few months and I hated it. Psych is a speciality that is either for you or it is not. I’ve seen psych nurses that were so stressed out they transferred to medical and ended up loving that more. I’ve seen psych nurses cry and have break downs over patients screaming at them and calling them names. I will say the only time I cried was after I was physically attacked by a patient and wound up in the ED because she hit me in my face and head multiple times. Then she walked away and calmly sat in a chair and acted like she didn’t do anything wrong, only to tell other staff that I got in her way.

Psych is certainly stressful, no doubt. But I find the main factor for success in psych is having a good team, other coworkers and management to help back you up, and a good security team. If you don’t have that on any giving day the stress level rises. But you can have the same issues on a medical floor too, or the ED.

Honestly, if I could get a desk job like you and make the same amount of money I’d do it in a heartbeat vs working the floor any day. Lol. But to each their own.