Help! 3 months of E.R experience, Want to be a Psychiatric nurse.

[RNJin]

Hi everyone. I have worked at E.R for 3 months so far. And Im not currently working. The hospital where I worked is quite famous for good sides, that's why I chose there. but also well known for their busy environment (especially E.R). 1148beds(hospital), 50beds(E.R) and we were all overloaded with patients. I could check the number of E.R patients with my computer when I was working there, and it was average 120, sometimes up to 160(evening shifts) so the "50beds" is meaningless.

The usual cases that I've been taking care of was

pleural effusion, neutropenic fever, TB, C-difficile, VRE, LC/Alcoholic LC, pancreatitis, cholecystitis, cytitis, DM, HTN, HF, SLE, GBS(guillain barre syndrome), SBP, gastritis, NSCLC, esophageal CA, AGC, infarction, hemorrhage ....etc

I am pretty much confident how to take care of them now.

And I guess you can see what's my nursing skills through this. (IV was successful many times except for the ...really really obese, CRF patients. So I can say my nursing skill isn't that bad as a 3 month of experience? )

and dementia, schizophrenia, depression, alcohol abuse, aggressive behavior

are what I saw as diagnoses or underlying of my patients.

And I've never had my patients having seizure or CPR on my duty yet.

Anyway,The reason I left my work was

1. As I was working there, I felt that I really can't not use my talent there (I'd say i'm naturally good at mental health nursing than emergency nursing) and in order to work (or SURVIVE) here, I should be talented on this area rather than psychiatric nursing.

2. After going through the broad area of nursing there, I became to sure what I really want to do.

someone might say that I can not say this after working for '3 months', Here's my thinking.

I wanted my patient that I assigned to get a care they deserve. as a new graduate nurse who is more talented or interested in Psychiatric nursing, working at the E.R that isn't easy was just kinda too much. (they literally throw me in front of patients and I had to take all the responsibilities.) I didn't think the orientation was enough, and the way they gave new graduates work ...felt really wrong. I didn't want to hold this big risk anymore since I don't desire to be a E.R nurse later after all, wanted keep my license safe, and build up my abilities at a little bit smaller hospital. I was assure that way, I can save myself, patient's life as well.

After listening to my story, my head-nurse had agreed with me, as a result of that, I quit the job, and looking for a new path to walk.

So here is what I got so far.

Mental hospital, they require minimum 1 year of Med/Sug or psychiatric staff nurse experience.

So I assume that I need to apply for this position. Am I correct?!

I'm worried if I'm missing something here,

and What if I start to work at mental hospital, not Med/sug, I have less opportunity to get a job later or not. (like many mental hospitals prefer Med/Sug experience)

And Also, some said to me that E.R experience would be perfect for you. you shouldn't quit your job...

I don't understand it that much. I mean I've learn many skills compares to the short experience though, we didn't have any authority to even click psychiatric notes or something. what E.R nurses do is taking care of physical symptoms and that's all. I don't see its that much helpful.

Is there somebody who can help me out with this?

I'm so desperate... Try not to think that my life is miserable now...Please any comment or your opinion would save my life!

Thank you for reading!!

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

I wish you hadn't quit your job until you had found something else. Quitting is going to make it more difficult for you to find something else in a world where nursing jobs can tend to be scarce. Is there any way you can go back and work per diem?

Often ads for nurses say such-and-such is required. That means they PREFER what they state, but doesn't mean they wouldn't hire someone else who has skills that fit the job otherwise. It never hurts to apply.

Where you worked before...was there a psych unit? Do you know who was the manager? Could you talk to him or her about what you want to do and the skills you have and have gained from working in ER? Don't mention what you lack, unless the manager asks. Talk about what you can bring to the psych unit to provide quality care. If you have applied there, the manager can ask to have your application pulled from the giant pile of applications, and you can jump to the top of the heap, if the manager thinks you might be a good fit for any available jobs...

Personally, I don't think a year of experience in med/surg is required to be a psych nurse. It's nice, and you can also learn as you go. That's what I did.

[RNJin]

Hello, Whispera.

Thank you so much for your reply! Your advice helped me a lot! and gave me a different point of view.

um...I don't know how to describe my situation now though... I might have to move soon and I also thought about what you said to me. But I see very little chance of going back to the hospital where I worked before... plus, I'm moving so... I decide not to try this one.

And Yes! It never hurts to apply. you are right. So I'm thinking of applying for psych units and some other units as well. I don't mind if I start to work at a small hospital or somewhere like that now. I just wish that I can learn something, be better, and find my way that I truly want.

Now I don't seriously hesitate where to go, and that is a big step for me! Thank you again !

I wish I can be a kind nurse like you someday. :)

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

Wherever you go, you can find out who the managers are of the various units and ask to talk to them directly about your hopes, skills, and dreams. You can even ask them for an appointment to talk about things. That will also pull you up from the pile of applications. The worst they can say is no...

[RNJin]

I guess you are talking about informational appointment. It's actually very good advice to me. Okay, I will try my best! Thank you again, Whispera. Hope you have a nice day there! :) :) !!!

[PG2018]

As a whole, nurses don't really flock to psych positions, and generally as long as you're licensed and willing you can get the job. Short of general competition due to employment stats in your state I think you've got a good chance of finding a psych job. Interestingly, ER people (I presently work in an ER) would never consider psych, and most psych nurses would never consider working psych. I'm "PsychGuy" because I'm finishing my psychiatric nurse practitioner MSN - it's the reason I became a nurse. I worked briefly (6 weeks) as a RN in a psych hospital doing admission assessments, screening, and surprisingly all the admissions clerk/insurance stuff. The conditions and work expectations and general lack of harmony made for a bad time so I quit and went back to my roots.

For what it's worth, I can't be a psych unit nurse with any great deal of efficacy, but I find that I do well in the provider role. What can you do? Psych nursing is one of the more challenging areas of nursing in my mind. There are so many patients up walking around, doing stuff, wanting stuff, etc. that it's too chaotic for me. Yes, it's too chaotic for me even over ER work. I want my patients to be sitting or laying down somewhere, lol and not roaming around in the milieu getting in each other's hair (and mine!) .

[tmbeede]

Im not sure where you are located but my facility is looking for Psych nurses! I work at St. Alexius Medical Center (www.st.alexius.org) in Bismarck, ND (www.bismarck.org). We have both an inpatient adolescent (9 beds) and adult (16 beds) psych unit and an outpaitent partial hospitalization program!