How can I get a job as a psychiatric nurse?

albanystudent · Sep 19, 2010

Review your psych meds; antidepressants, anxiolytics, antipsychotics. Know some examples and the side effects too. They'll want to know what you would do in specific situations...like coming upon someone wielding a knife on a peer or someone throwing chairs in the common room; things like that. We're hiring in our state too! PM me and I'll let you know.

Thanks. I guess I'll be hitting the books again, maybe. You know it scares me because I feel like my memory is not up to par with my former classmates for example. I always felt like I had to study harder and even with that I couldn't not retain as much information. Another reason why I'm scared to enter the field.

Caffeine_IV · Sep 19, 2010

Any reason why you did not practice in the nursing fied upon graduation...if this is too personal please disregard.

I have no advice as to getting in psych nursing but I have floated to that unit. I think it's one of those things you either hate it or love it. The nurses on that unit are very patient.

albanystudent · Sep 19, 2010

I work in a community based psychiatric care company. When I go into the home of a client with schizophrenia to assess their mental status and medication compliance it is not always 'easy.' And many a day I would love to return to the NON SMOKING wards of the hospital, but if you really want to spend your days doing therapeutic communication then I suggest you look for community based, outpatient psychiatric care of the chronically mentally ill. Go to Dept. of Human Svc if you don't see anything in the phone book. They are usually hiring because it is a low paying job with little chance for advancement.

Oh I hope I didn't come off as saying psych nursing is easy. I know it's a very difficult field and an art in itself, but as a person who has never worked as a nurse, I'm very intimidated by all the 'skills' related stuff acute care nurses have to perform. I'm don't see myself as a very technical or even quick thinker. Even in school clinical rotations, I remember feeling very lost. I always felt like I was the dumbest and that I had to study twice as hard to just keep up. That's why I'm thinking of giving it up altogether and doing something art related instead, which will also mean I'll likely be very poor the rest of my life.

lovescapeRN · Sep 19, 2010

i did psych.. psych has its own mental stress though. its a whole different beast. you can have a manic person screaming and shouting in your ears over and over the entire shift. it got old for me real fast. i would study whats a 5150, 5250, what are some emergency psych meds, haldol geodon, ativan.. what are the side effects.. good luck.. i think facility that deals with poly substance abuse would need a lot of nurses.. but if you step into that field, u gotta be careful... you may get hurt physically. they're generally looking for very "strong" people.. by strong i mean strong minded, tough, won't get bothered if someone is cursing at you, wanting to spit throw things at you, dont take things too personally. after awhile, i decided psych wasnt for me. my last job paid me so well, i can get up to almost $48 an hour, but even that stress wasn't worth it for me to stay. goodluck to you

himilayaneyes · Sep 19, 2010

OP, I thought about your question when I went to work last night and asked one of the psychiatric nurses about the best way to go about getting into a psych unit. This man has been a psych nurse for 20 yrs, but he first worked med/surg, tele, and icu for about 20 yrs. He told me that in psych unit they typically want you to be well experienced in acute care b/c they still have codes, you have to be able to start an IV in an emergency, you have to be able to recognize if the person is psychotic vs. going into anaphylactic shock, etc. Basically, he suggested you start out with a med-surg floor to get your foundation before going into psych. Good luck.

shakingbaking · Sep 19, 2010

That's why I suggested Stony Lodge. It has a longer length of stay (less turn over, less frantic), is not a general hospital, has no med-surg units, no ER, no medical issues or emergencies really. That's why you might find it a good starting point. It's a challenging population of kids that have pretty bad lives before this, but you're doing God's work to help them! They would likely only have evening or night to start with, but I haven't checked in with them recently to know what if anything is open. Worth a try!

albanystudent · Sep 19, 2010

That's why I suggested Stony Lodge. It has a longer length of stay (less turn over, less frantic), is not a general hospital, has no med-surg units, no ER, no medical issues or emergencies really. That's why you might find it a good starting point. It's a challenging population of kids that have pretty bad lives before this, but you're doing God's work to help them! They would likely only have evening or night to start with, but I haven't checked in with them recently to know what if anything is open. Worth a try!

Sounds good and oh I'm sure it is like God's work. I sort of know the type of kids who end up in those places cause I was in a psych hospital too as a teen and I was one of the better off kids. It makes a big difference if there is a person who understands their needs. I'll be looking into it further. Thanks.