Future of Psych nursing

Do you think the future of psych nursing will be be broadening or narrowing for nurses?

Is this a field that will be growing? Will more specialty psych units be available for psych pts? Just curious because it seems that locally,, mental health services are very hard to come by!

Thanks for your opinions!

I know in our area, there is always a shortage of treatment centers and methods. SInce mental health courts have now been introduced in our state, there will definitely be a growing service area in the public sector, at least.

Right now, I think the nation in general is in crisis with mental health. People don't get the services they need. There aren't enough mental health workers to care for everyone (particularly psych nurses) at the institutional level for sure.

I think there will continue to be a huge growing need for services, personnel, and institutions for the long-term. If there ever comes a day that they pass the stupid mental health parity bill for insurance companies, then I'm sure we'll see more people

going in to get the treatment they need too.

...Just one person's opinion....

Hard to say. I work for a mental health agency, though my responsibilities in the psych piece are predominantly medications. I also cover the medical piece and how it interacts with psychiatric illness, as well as general medical care. The clinical work, treatment planning are run by LCSW's. Having worked both the medical and social work model of care, I prefer the social work model of psych care. There is room for nurses in psych, but I wouldn't be suprised to see the role change. Not to mention, LCSW's and mental health workers don't receive the wage that a facility or agency staffed with RN's would. Psych is not a field that generates alot of private insurance. When the gov't is footing the bill, you can bet there will be changes that will save money. I don't beleive such changes necessarily mean a reduction in the quality of care, conversely, it may be an improvement.

Asked the same question the initial poster posed to an experienced psych nurse (20 years in the biz) last week on my mental health clinical rotation.

From her vantage point, she doesn't see much changing in this field in the short term. Money for treatment will continue to be tight. And MH will go on playingthe role of the black sheep in healthcare.

Hi, I think the medical model for treating emotional problems - which means regulating people and treating them with medications is a thankless job. And the success rate pretty abysmal. There's a lot of exciting things happening in the area of mental health - breakthrough work that doesn't treat the patient as the problem - but help people create the lives - from wherever they are emtotionally. I'm in touch with several nurses who are doing more creative work both in hospital/clinic settings and in private practice. So, I'm hopeful that some of these developments will impact on how we as nurses practice psychiatric care. Anyone else have that sense?