Feeling stuck

The great thing about nursing is there's a variety of specialties you can go into. Many psych units hire new graduates; I was almost hired into one before I chose to accept a medical-surgical position.

You have to think about whether you can manage your anxiety somehow before you become an RN. Most RN jobs entail providing direct patient care, so you can't expect to avoid it, especially as a new grad.

Think about where you would be happiest, whether that be in social work, nursing, etc. I wouldn't worry about the amount of time it would take to complete your degree, or the salaries of each position (you could always move out of SoCal).

Good luck.

I love behavioral health nursing and want to go into it myself. I'm 35 and just about to finish my degree. There's a lot you can do as a psych nurse, acute inpatient, clinic, nurse delegation, pediatric, adult, etc... look at your local job market.

What about bedside nursing are you worried about? If you're compassionate, you'll find a way to be compassionate during a brief change, or peri care, or even sticking a patient. I'm just curious.

I really hated trach care when I started as a new nurse. I don't even bat an eye now. I also really hate needles. Like, I can pass out if I see a needle coming for me and I'm adding in my living will that at the end of life, no one is to stick me. I would break out into a cold sweat when I had to stick someone and I would even cringe for them when I pierced their skin. I'm completely fine with it now.

There are plenty of compassionate roles you can fill in many careers, but there is something special about nursing. The ability to help people through the worst time of their life and know that you really gave great care, it's really worth it.

I hope you find what you're looking for, but don't let fear hold you back if this is what you're looking for. Tell us your fears, I promise someone here had that same fear before starting. We might be able to give you a little insight!

I had sooooo much anxiety about direct patient care when I started, and clinicals all through nursing school were terrifying for me just because of my nerves over patient interactions. I made it through fine though, and started work on a super busy inpatient unit. I had a great preceptor and with a little time completely got over that anxiety. It was trial by fire at first, but got to where there wasn't a patient situation that I didn't feel like I could handle. It's a good place to get to.

That being said, I wouldn't let the fact that you're 25 deter you from another field you think you'd be a better fit for. I left another career to go to nursing school at 30, and now at 38 I'm about to go back for my nurse practitioner. I know it doesn't feel like it, but at 25 you have all the time in the world.

I'm pretty much worried about everything when it comes to bedside care. I take medication for anxiety so I am already a naturally anxious person and the scope of practice on a medical floor is something that I know I would absolutely crumble under if I had to take on a full load of patients.

The reason psych appeals to me is because the patients are medically stable and I feel like my personal understanding of mental illness will allow me to provide really compassionate and effective care wothout having to worry about performing much hands on skills.I have always wanted to work with undeserved populations and this is where my public health interest stems from as well a dream job for myself would be working in a role where I could provide health education and disease prevention.

I also second guess myself about nursing because I don't want to have a "traditional" nursing role. While I find med/surg type nursing theory interesting, im.much more interested in one's psychosocial well-being and I'm not sure if my end goal for a career can be achieved in another field.

Have you spent much time with psych patients? I'm a naturally anxious person as well and find that environment to be too emotionally exhausting. I almost feel like when a patient is particularly anxious or needy (something you'd see in any inpatient unit, but to me it seems amplified in psych) that I feed off of if and get progressively more anxious myself. Then, so do they and blah blah. Psych nurses are amazing and the work they do is incredible. I could never.

Youll find lots of opportunities to advocate for the underserved pretty much in any inpatient unit in which you work. The hands on stuff can take some getting used to - I feel like there are still rare instances after a few years that I still need to excuse myself to very privately settle my stomach. But, even the objectively kinda yucky stuff seems more worth it when you see that you're giving someone some semblance of dignity in the widely undignified scenario that is being hospitalized.

Anyway there are are lots of neat things you can do with RN after your name and it's good to explore what they are!

I too really struggled with anxiety during nursing school. I knew I didn't want to do bedside if there was any possible way to avoid it. I was interested in psych too at one point for similar reasons as you but after a clinical rotation at one of the few infamous state hospitals left I just found it too draining. Now I work in public health and I have been off of all of my psych meds for almost 2 years. There are still tough days but I no longer feel like I'm on the edge of a mental breakdown every day.

Are you willing to move out of Southern California to get your first 2 years or so of experience? As I'm sure you know, the market there is over-saturated with new grads, so finding a job in your specialty of choice may be difficult. If you're willing to get your foot in the door in a specialty elsewhere you may have more luck skipping the "obligatory" 1-2 years of med surg and going back to CA after you have some experience. Also, if you do go the PH route in CA you would need to get the PHN certification. California is the only state that requires that. I'm not sure what the requirements are for that but it's just something to think about. Not sure exactly what the psych market is like there, but I was looking for jobs in San Diego (any job- not just PH) as a new grad and there seemed to be no opportunities for new grads outside of hospital residency programs. I would've had a really difficult time getting into PH in my home state (PA), but I was hired as a new grad here in Arizona before I even took the NCLEX. The pay isn't great in public health, but the cost of living is low in AZ and for me the quality of life and job satisfaction of helping vulnerable populations makes it 100% worth it.

Good luck!!