Gaining Exposure to Psych Nursing

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Specializes in Med/Surg, APU/PACU, Peds, Flight.

Hey All!

I am interested in the possibility of pursuing an advanced degree in mental health nursing. However, I currently am unable to switch out of my MedSurg environment to seek placement in a psych setting. Having said this, is there anything that you would recommend, either classes, reading, book work, etc that may help prepare me for a possible move and to mainly give me more information on this path.

Thanks!

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

The best thing you could do is pick up a prn gig on a psych unit. Many will allow you to work as few as 2 shifts a month. Most people either love it or hate it and actually doing it is a good way to figure that out for sure. Books are great to augment your knowledge but nothing, imo, will substitute for the amount of gut instincts and foresight acquired from having seen a particular presentation in the past that are needed in psychiatric nursing. Good luck! It is always nice to hear about new people interested in trying out psych.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, APU/PACU, Peds, Flight.

thanks for the tip. unfortunately, due to my current situation and placement, picking up shifts at a psych facility is out of the question. i will have to just do research and reading for now then.

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