Hi, i'm new here. I was surfing the net looking for more information about different nursing program, and i came across this site, i think it'd be helpful to get some information here.
I'm in college getting my first degree right now and i'm graduating in Dec 2005. My major is Psychology, and i'm thinking of getting a nursing degree and maybe went on to psychiatric nursing after i get a taste of what it's like to be a nurse. I'm struggling between ADN and Accelerated BSN, BSN seems to be a better choice, but the thing is i don't have a lot of biology/chemistry background, and most schools require about 50 credits prerequisites. That's like an associate degree in another word....since after i finished all those prerequisites, i can still take the RN exam, i'm thinking that i should. Can anyone give me some suggestions? Does it make a big difference in salary if you have ADN or BSN? I understand the BSN gives you more opportunity for advancement, i'm hoping to take advantage of the tuition reimburstment after i find a job..then i can go on to get my MSN. It just sounds weird for me with a bachelor's degree to go back and get an associate degree in something else. PLEASE!! Any advice will help!! THANK YOU !!
Hey...you can read from the very beginning of this thread, then you'd be able to catch up. So are you thinking of getting a degree in nursing with a background in something else? I probably can't help much, i'm here to get help just like you, but post a question and people here are really nice, they'd be able to give you suggestions. If you are going through the same thing as i do, read this thread, you might get something out of it.
elleon
I am going through the same thing. Zoology/pre-vet. The difference is I don't even know what the two you are talking about are? What are the differences? I think I am in more confusion than you.
What do you mean when you say you want to go into psych nursing? Are you saying you want to be a psychiatric nurse, or a psychiatric nurse practitioner? Check with the school you're thinking about doing your graduate degree at. Many graduate nursing schools will make you do 'bridge' courses before they admit you into the program if your undergraduate degree is anything but a BSN, and it may be cheaper to just finish up the BSN classes than to do a bunch of 'bridge' classes at graduate tuition prices.
I didn't like my psych rotation either, not because of the patients but because I didn't agree that what the psychiatrists were doing was in any way therapeutic for the patients. These doctors didn't believe in talk therapy because they claim they don't have the resources to support it and that they're not convinced it works anyway. So, all they do is prescribe medications---a lot of them.
It seemed to me that the healthcare staff at that mental institution were more interested in using drugs to cover up the patients' problems than they were in helping the patients to return to a better level of functioning before they discharge them back out into society. Many of these patients are nowhere near being ready to go back out there because they still have serious mental health problems and they also lack of financial and social support and a place to live. And so they end up on the street where they are repeatedly victimized, until they are arrested for some type of street crime and end up in jail and then back in the hospital again. For some of them its a cycle that's been going on for many years. I don't see how the therapy they're getting helps to change anything because much of the time they're in the hospital is spent slouched over and spaced-out from all medications they're on.
The pediatrics area was the worst. I got to work with kids who were horribly abused and traumtized in every way imaginable. That part was more than I could take. It was too depressing, and I knew after seeing this that psych was not for me.
You could work as a mental health tech for a while to get a feel for what psych nursing care is all about. As a psychiatric nurse you have to really be there to support the patient at every level, moreso than nurses who do only physical care. The ones with severe psychiatric disorders need 100% total care, and that can be exhausting unless you really love what you're doing.
I'm a psych major and i've always wanted to be a psychologist and was planning to go to grad. school in psych. But a professor just introduced me to this growing field...psychiatric nursing, i've never thought or heard about it before, but i mean it's going to be easier for me to find a job and make some money, plus if i eventually become a psychiatric nurse, i can do what i've always been interested in, and be practical in a way..meaning make a living..u know what i'm saying.
I know it's easier said than done, maybe when i'm put in that situation, i might not be able to handle it..but as for now, i'm still very interested in psychology and helping people who have mental illnesses.
I'm just not sure if ADN is the right thing to do for now, i can get into an Accelerated BSN, but they required about 60 credits prereq....i have to complete all those courses before applying to their program, so in a way..it's like completing an associate degree on my own... if after the ADN, i can take the RN exam, why not right? I'm just undecided and not sure...cuz i don't have too much biology background and i'm not too interested in it either.... sigh!!
elleon
What do you mean when you say you want to go into psych nursing? Are you saying you want to be a psychiatric nurse, or a psychiatric nurse practitioner? Check with the school you're thinking about doing your graduate degree at. Many graduate nursing schools will make you do 'bridge' courses before they admit you into the program if your undergraduate degree is anything but a BSN, and it may be cheaper to just finish up the BSN classes than to do a bunch of 'bridge' classes at graduate tuition prices.
I didn't like my psych rotation either, not because of the patients but because I didn't agree that what the psychiatrists were doing was in any way therapeutic for the patients. These doctors didn't believe in talk therapy because they claim they don't have the resources to support it and that they're not convinced it works anyway. So, all they do is prescribe medications---a lot of them.
It seemed to me that the healthcare staff at that mental institution were more interested in using drugs to cover up the patients' problems than they were in helping the patients to return to a better level of functioning before they discharge them back out into society. Many of these patients are nowhere near being ready to go back out there because they still have serious mental health problems and they also lack of financial and social support and a place to live. And so they end up on the street where they are repeatedly victimized, until they are arrested for some type of street crime and end up in jail and then back in the hospital again. For some of them its a cycle that's been going on for many years. I don't see how the therapy they're getting helps to change anything because much of the time they're in the hospital is spent slouched over and spaced-out from all medications they're on.
The pediatrics area was the worst. I got to work with kids who were horribly abused and traumtized in every way imaginable. That part was more than I could take. It was too depressing, and I knew after seeing this that psych was not for me.
You could work as a mental health tech for a while to get a feel for what psych nursing care is all about. As a psychiatric nurse you have to really be there to support the patient at every level, moreso than nurses who do only physical care. The ones with severe psychiatric disorders need 100% total care, and that can be exhausting unless you really love what you're doing.
I'm thinking CA and TX might have more opportunities cuz it's a bigger place with more diversity. I'm in the midwest now and planning to move somewhere else after i graduate.
One thing I've heard is that there is much more need for RN's in RURAL areas verses the big cities...something to think about.
That's true, i think i should do that. Should i do that after i got into a nursing program, because i don't think they would need someone who doesn't have any knowledge in that area.
I would recommend doing it now, so you can see if you even want to start nursing school. It's a pretty common thing for people to do. There are even days/programs when high school students get to shadow nurses to see if that's what they want to major in for college.
I'm not 100% sure how easy or possible it would be to shadow on a pysch unit - special polices, rules, patient considerations, etc. But you can contact a hospital HR department probably, and ask them who to contact about shadowing. You'd definitely be able to get a shadowing experience in some other areas like Med-Surg or ER...while it won't be what you're specifically interested in right now, it will still give you a good taste of what nursing is like. Especially since most of your clinicals in school will be Med-Surg.
And, in the ER, we get to use our psych skills quite often. With actual psych patients sometimes, more often with families, drug/alcohol abuse and OD situations, death, trauma, etc.
A lot of hospital jobs, like mine, don't require a lot of training or experience, and employers tend to like hiring nursing students (gives them the inside track on recruiting). I think most hospitals are also happy to get any volunteer time they can. Neither will give you as much clinical experience as a CNA or Nurse Tech gets, but you can learn a lot and see what you think of the general environment.
My hospital actually has some requirements to be a volunteer, and opportunities in a specific area may be limited. Mostly, the requirements are simple enough--they provide you with hep-B vaccine and titer your blood for immunities to measles, chickenpox, etc, and I think they will immunize you for free, if needed. I work in a teaching hospital, and some of the associated courses require volunteer hours (physical therapy, in particular, can be tough to get a spot) so we have a lot of students who want/need to volunteer. A private or for-profit hospital might be a lot more eager for free labor.
By the way, I purely loved my psych rotation! It wasn't easy, but in many ways it was where I first started to feel like a nurse. I plan to work in a more med-surg setting, and I will probably go back to school for my BSN after a year (maybe two) of paying bills and gaining experience. I think the ADN is a great place to start, especially if you need to make a living (plan on being poor during school, though. I work part-time, and my employer has been great about working around my schedule, but nursing school is INTENSE, and anything else you do cuts into study time).
A lot of the stuff you think will be awful--body fluids, smells, and the like--are things most of us get used to more easily than we expected. Most of us have something that still scores pretty high on the Urp Scale (3.5 is mildly upsetting, 5.5 stomach turns a little, 8.0+=actual vomiting) but the hard part is emotional. Lots of stress, occassional heartbreak, massive anxiety, moments of exhileration. It's a trip. I hope you enjoy the ride.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
"psych" nursing is everywhere. No matter where you work, esp in LTC or hospital nursing, you will use what you learned in psych nursing, and often. There are psychiatric issues all around and many patients have mental illnesses you will have to deal with whether you work in OB, ED, ICU, or even PEDS or School and community health nursing. So be prepared to deal. Learn well what they teach you in psych. You will definately need it.
I understand the BSN gives you more opportunity for advancement, i'm hoping to take advantage of the tuition reimburstment after i find a job..then i can go on to get my MSN.
If your ultimate goal is to obtain your MSN, then I would suggest getting your BSN right away.
There are a number of options to get your RN including an accelerated program for people with bachelor's in another area. Look at the programs offered by the colleges and universities in your area. I know that Pace University has an accelerated program - maybe 18 months, you can check their site for an idea. All entry level nursing programs have some form of clinical (hands-on) opportunities, and even internships or externships.
Nursing has a lot of opportunities, not all of them involve blood, guts and gore. Find out if your college or any local community colleges or hospitals have career days or open houses scheduled. Look at the recruiting sites for different hospitals/clinics/companies, see if you can make arrangements for a job shadowing opportunity.
There are other positions available in hospitals if all you're looking for is an entry level position so that you can get tuition reimbursement. Depending on what the hospital offers in terms of benefits (ie: complete/partial reimbursement, or for all staff vs nsg staff). Also, depending on what kind of position you are qualified for with your current degree, you may already be able to secure a position in a non-hospital company/organization with tuition reimbursement as a benefit.
Continue to check out other threads here, as well as some other nursing websites:
I can definitely relate to your dilemma about getting an Accelerated BSN or ADN! I have a degree in Business/Psych and I am currently taking the science prereq's needed for the ADN program. I considered an accelerated BSN but the costs are crazy, I would have to take $35,000 in loans to pay for it. I decided on an ADN because I could still work at least part-time and will be able to pay for school without going into debt. Think about this also, once you are working in a hospital as an RN there is a lot of tuition reimbursement available to get your BSN and you will be getting experience while working toward a BSN. You also have the option of completing your BSN online!
I am anxious to get into the field but do not have tons of money for an accelerated BSN, so the ADN was the best choice for me!
With actual psych patients sometimes, more often with families, drug/alcohol abuse and OD situations, death, trauma, etc.
elleon
17 Posts
Hey...you can read from the very beginning of this thread, then you'd be able to catch up. So are you thinking of getting a degree in nursing with a background in something else? I probably can't help much, i'm here to get help just like you, but post a question and people here are really nice, they'd be able to give you suggestions. If you are going through the same thing as i do, read this thread, you might get something out of it.
elleon