Is Psych Nursing Easy?

[resilientnurse]

I have a girlfriend who swears that psych nursing is the easiest nursing job there is? Coming from a med/surgical floor and feeling tired in my first trimester of pregnancy, I see the job announcements and am tempted to apply? Is it as relatively laid back as she claims? Also, can you get career pigeoned-holed afterwards? Like once a psych nurse, always a psych nurse?

[2mint]

So far this is my conclusion: psych is hard because of difficult patients, which no one denies.

All non-psych nurses: That's it??!!??

Six pages summed up with two words.

[KaffeineFiend]

No that's not all there's to it.

There are several skills sets needed and the challenges faced range from easy to very complex.

It depends on the facility policies, acute or long term care, and population you are caring for.

A list of specific things isn't really going to convince anyone unless they have experienced it themselves.

However:

Those who are in the mental health field because it's a specialty they enjoy, or feel passionate about, will have it EASIER.

Those who come into the field for the wrong reasons, don't have a natural knack for it, and have to work harder. Many times they burn out in a job they thought was going to be "easy".

[MMC.RN]

I would love to find one of these, "easy," jobs as well. I work max security forensic psych admission. Our patients are acutely psychotic and some of the most dangerous in the state, especially since they are unmedicated or undermedicated and oftentimes non-compliant. Its either that or they have a personality disorder and are manipulative and staff-splitting or attention-seeking. Our patients have or potentially have a myriad of different issues.

Tonight alone , I had 4 seclusions, I didn't even have enough rooms on the unit, a patient in 5 point restraints, 5 patients on suicide precautions which require extra charting, 4 patients who claimed to have, "medical issues," that needed additional assessment and 2 of these patients were hyperverbal and manic and 1 was somewhat disorganized and with psychotic features. We had an admission from the AM that needed for a paperwork finished, he was a surprise ED. I was the only nurse with 4 support staff. This is a typical shift. Plus I had administrative weekend paperwork that I didn't finish yesterday and end of the month things to finish as well. I was there all weekend as the only nurse on two double shifts and we were busy and short staffed all weekend.

Yes, psych is SO easy. I would love to see nurses who work med-surg or some other specialty do my job. I can't even explain to someone what it's like. It can be overwhelming, there's no set protocol like there is for an IV insertion or other medical procedures and there is no right or wrong answer, it's up to the Nurse to make a judgment call, and it's not always the right one.