Good books on psychiatric nursing?

[metfan]

Hi everyone. I just transferred to psych nursing from the PACU unit. It is so different but I love it. I am learning so much from he wonderful staff but I need to review mental conditions, medications etc. Are there any good books I could get? I love reading and learn a lot through books. I also love history and know psych services have changed so much over the years. Are there any good books on the history of psych nursing? Thank you.

[Jules A, MSN]

I'm sorry you haven't gotten any responses. I don't really know of any great psych books although all the ones I used in school were adequate. Maybe check Amazon.com and purchase a used textbook cheaply if you are interested in mental health presentations. The DSM5 is invaluable for knowing the actual diagnostic criteria but probably not as interesting to you at this stage in your learning. If you are interested in psych meds Stahl's prescribers guide is a resource I relied heavily on as a new NP and again you could probably get an old version online fairly cheaply. Good luck and welcome to our field.

[greenbeanio]

Here's one I think is very good - very practical and geared towards real life inpatient psych.

Its called... Wait for it... Inpatient Psyhiatric Nursing! By Linda Damon et al. If you get only one book for inpatient psych, this should be it!

Inpatient Psychiatric Nursing: Clinical Strategies & Practical Interventions: 9780826109712: Medicine & Health Science Books @ Amazon.com