Look to change specialties from psych

[Gingerpsych]

I've been working as a psych nurse for the past three years, since I graduated school as an RN. Recently the has been a large increase in violence where I am working along with poor management and I don't feel that I can do psych nursing anymore as I am feeling extremely burnt out. I have no idea what else to do though. I feel like psych is all I know and I would be lost if I tried to do something else. I don't think I can last the next thirty to forty years in psych though. Just looking for some advice. I'm worried about feeling incompetent elsewhere and don't know what other kind of nursing to try.

[cleback]

You will be incompetent but that's why orientation exists. I switched from psych to medsurg. The biggest thing is to show interviewers you want to learn a new specialty.

[Davey Do]

Yeah, CarKRN, I worked psych the first 2 1/2 years of my nursing career and then went to work in surgery and did okay.

As you can see from my experience, I've worked several different areas of nursing.

It's like cleback said, show 'em you're interested and motivated to learn and experience new and different areas of nursing and you'll get in. If you're motivated enough.

One other consideration is to stay in psych and change places of employment.

Good luck to you in whatever you decide CarKRN!

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Some hospitals offer programs to allow nurses with a year or two of experience to train in a different specialty. Check with your HR to see if your hospital has such a program.

Actually, also check with your HR or your facility's nurse recruiter to see what they think could be good options for you. Perhaps they may know of units in the hospital that would be good starting points for you to transition out of psych, or which may be more welcoming to training nurses new to the specialty.

[pixierose, BSN, RN]

Although I stayed in psych per diem, I did move on to neuro ICU.

I was welcomed with open arms. In fact, when I interviewed in various ED's and med surg units as well, I was also welcomed - psych is everywhere, and many nurses do NOT enjoy working with these patients.

The skills you learn in psych - those deescalation skills, for example, are often overlooked by other nurses (the whole, "psych is easy!") ... until a patient is escalating. It really is an acquired skill. In the setting I am in now, I receive the more difficult behavioral patients ... and that's ok because it's nothing like I'm used to.

All the other skills - that's what orientation and a good preceptor is for (that, and awesome coworkers).

[TriciaJ, RN]

I worked psych for the first 15 years of my career. From there I went to corrections where there is a lot of overlap. It was a bit of a challenge to spruce up my physical assessment skills, but when it was time to get out of jail I was able to get a job on a surgical specialties unit in a very good hospital. By this time I had been a nurse for over twenty years so it wasn't half intimidating! Luckily I was offered an internship program for new grads and returning nurses. It gave me a great foundation (most of the machines hadn't even been invented when I was in nursing school and many things were done so differently).

I found myself loving med-surg after spending most of my career being intimidated at the thought of it. I've had a varied career and I look back on it with great satisfaction. OP, you have not locked yourself into any kind of career box.