I think I want to be a psych nurse

Nurse Ratched, RN · Apr 1, 2006

I worked on a medical psychistric unit, so, yes, they do exist, and are pretty cool :).

Drysolong · Apr 1, 2006

I worked on a medical psychistric unit, so, yes, they do exist, and are pretty cool :).

Thanks for the info!!

healer_energy · Apr 17, 2006

I am just reading this almost a year later and wondering what happened to you over the year. But I wanted to say that there is a lot of mental health aspects to all types of "medical nursing". I have worked med surg, ICU, CCU,ER and teaching and always emphasized the assessment of stress and the family crises that occurred in the face of illness. [sometimes at the expense of exact hourly measurements!] Those moments of connection were the heart touching times I remember. Finally now, at 60 I am getting into psychiatric nursing with some formal training. I know I will be good at it with a little theory and learning the language. So if you did choose the med-surg route, it's all good and you don't have to lose anything.

Good luck !

Sonya

rn/writer, RN · Apr 18, 2006

I am just reading this almost a year later and wondering what happened to you over the year. But I wanted to say that there is a lot of mental health aspects to all types of "medical nursing". I have worked med surg, ICU, CCU,ER and teaching and always emphasized the assessment of stress and the family crises that occurred in the face of illness. [sometimes at the expense of exact hourly measurements!] Those moments of connection were the heart touching times I remember. Finally now, at 60 I am getting into psychiatric nursing with some formal training. I know I will be good at it with a little theory and learning the language. So if you did choose the med-surg route, it's all good and you don't have to lose anything.
Good luck !
Sonya

The OP posted less than three weeks ago.

I wish you well in your new psych opportunities. You're right about there being many psych-oriented opportunities in every area of nursing.

allnurses Guide · Apr 29, 2006

I have to agree. I currently work Med/Surge, and while the medical aspect IS the primary focus of my nursing, I would say that at least 60 percent of my patients have mental health issues that I deal with as well. So even if you decide to go into Med/Surge, Oncology, or whatever... you are still always going to be doing a bit of psychiatric nursing!

Then there are units, as Nurse Ratched pointed out, that truly FOCUS on psychiatric issues, right alongside focusing on the medical issues. So it's more of a 50/50 type thing. =) On my unit, the psyche issues, while they are there and they have to be dealt with... they do generally take the VERY back seat.

Right now I personally am looking to make a change and take a job on a psychiatric unit so that I can deal mainly with pt's behavioral issues.

Drysolong · Apr 29, 2006

I have to agree. I currently work Med/Surge, and while the medical aspect IS the primary focus of my nursing, I would say that at least 60 percent of my patients have mental health issues that I deal with as well. So even if you decide to go into Med/Surge, Oncology, or whatever... you are still always going to be doing a bit of psychiatric nursing!
Then there are units, as Nurse Ratched pointed out, that truly FOCUS on psychiatric issues, right alongside focusing on the medical issues. So it's more of a 50/50 type thing. =) On my unit, the psyche issues, while they are there and they have to be dealt with... they do generally take the VERY back seat.
Right now I personally am looking to make a change and take a job on a psychiatric unit so that I can deal mainly with pt's behavioral issues.

Med-Surg/Psych sounds more interesting by the minute.

P.S. I'm a "House" fan too. !!!

MarkRN · Apr 30, 2006

I've been reading through some of threads and it seems that psychiatric units try to not handle those with physiological problems and other units don't want psychiatric patients. Is there a place for someone like me who wants to handle both. Is that possible?

I currently work on a locked inpatient psych unit in a large hospital and I can tell you that we take care of a lot of medically-compromised patients on our unit. For example, my staff and I have had some post-surgical patients, have ran numerous IV infusions, and have even transfused blood a handful of times. We have also taken care of pregnant patients who stayed on our unit until they had to deliver and then took them back immediately after delivery to do postpartum care. My unit may be somewhat unique, as we take patients from 17 1/2 and up (our oldest patient was 101 years old!). We also have many medical issues to handle with the elderly, as we have quite a few geriatric patients on our unit that are often with us for several weeks awaiting nursing home placement/return. So don't think that psych nurses only take care of patients "from the neck up" - we do a whole lot more than that!

Drysolong · May 2, 2006

I currently work on a locked inpatient psych unit in a large hospital and I can tell you that we take care of a lot of medically-compromised patients on our unit. So don't think that psych nurses only take care of patients "from the neck up" - we do a whole lot more than that!

Your job seems very interesting and fulfilling. With more experience and training, I think I would enjoy working in such an environment.