Hi everyone,
I'm a new grad (LVN) who would like to go into psych nursing. I'm really struggling, however, with the idea of antipsychotic med. maintenance after reading research that indicates that while effective for the short-term, the use of antipsychotics actually causes higher rates of relapse/psychosis long-term:
http://psychrights.org/research/Digest/Chronicity/50yearecord.pdf
This is one of many articles written on the subject, and I don't think this is just quack research. I WANT antipsychotics to be the best answer, I just don't like what I'm reading about them. Anyway, I'm struggling because I think psychiatric nursing would be a good fit for me, but from what I can tell, a huge part of the job would be administering antipsychotics, and I don't know how comfortable I'd be with that. Since I don't know who to turn to with this concern, I thought I'd post here.
I guess I'm wondering if there are any of you who don't primarily give out these medications as part of your job, or who have similar concerns, or who have heard of and/or dealt with this topic before. I might just give up and start looking into other fields (although even during my clinicals in LTC and acute-care, I gave out PLENTY of antipsychotics), but I'm wondering what your thoughts are; please be kind, I know this post could incite harsh criticism. Thank you.
- Emily