Got my first psych job!

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Hello all,

I have been working home health/private duty for about 5 years and was finally burnt out and wanted to return to a facility environment. I just landed a PRN position on the women's behavioral health unit. This will be my first psych experience outside of clinicals in school. I just wondered if any of the more experienced psych nurses had any advice for me on things I should brush up on. Any terms/lingo or abbreviations I should be aware of in psych? I've seen a few on here reading through posts that I didn't recognize. Maybe the most common drugs and side effects I should brush up on that are common in psych? Any advice and tips would be much appreciated!

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Specializes in Psych.

Here is a helpful medication brush up. NIMH - Mental Health Medications

You may need to brush up on your basic psych dx, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective, bipolar disorder, major depression. If you are going to be working with duel dx, review you addictions treatment also.

A women's unit can be a real challenge! Review borderline personality disorder and PTSD.

The abbreviations are getting way out of hand (in nursing and the world) so good luck with that!

Welcome, and enjoy!

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).

Congratulations on your New Position, luv twilight! Home Health is an Excellent Background as a Prerequisite for Multiple Areas of Nursing!

In Addition to Mish's Good Information and Advice, you can put in a Search on this Forum, as Others have Enquired Similarly.

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Thank you both and thanks for that great link on medications, it was exactly what I was looking for!

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