Is psychiatric nursing for me?

JALEXSHOE · Aug 2, 2007

I must confess, I know very little about psychiatric nurses, their roles, or their scope of practice. I did try to look up some links that discussed or described them for you.

But, no worries, don't apologize for posting. There isn't such a thing as a bad question when one is truly interested in learning.

From what you describe, it sounds as you would have an interest in an advanced practice nursing role. I don't know if mental health practitioners can prescribe as freely as say a FNP, though I think that would depend on your state's board of nursing. I also think that this is changing in many areas.

Hopefully, someone knowledgeable on this topic will weigh in. I could suggest you writing the instructors of the programs you are interested in and asking them what their views are. You could also contact your local mental health facilities and request to speak with one of their ARNP's regarding what it is they do and inform them that you are a student looking for career direction.

Good luck!

http://www.nursingworld.org/ojin/tpc1/tpc1_2.htm

http://www.discovernursing.com/jnj-specialtyID_261-dsc-specialty_detail.aspx

http://nurseweb.ucsf.edu/www/spec-psy.htm

Melanie_RN · Aug 2, 2007

I'm with you! I'm looking at psychiatric NP vs. psychiatric CNS. The way my school describes it as, the NP deals with psychopharmacology, and the CNS doesn't. Otherwise, they do the same as far as counseling, and seeing patients. I am personally a believer that a lot of things can be solved with counseling, as my anxiety/social anxiety issues were solved with talking, as opposed to the anti-depressants they gave me, which made the underlying, undiagnosed ADHD waaaaaaay worse. I think I'll probably go the way of the NP, because sometimes, people really do need medication (my BF being a prime example) but I would prefer to stay away from it as much as possible, and go the route of the OP, with holistic medical interventions.

fidelio · Aug 2, 2007

I'm trying to decide if this is the right field for me. Right now, I'm just finishing up my BA. It's basically a general studies BA, but I took a lot of psychology, chemistry, biology, and nutrition. Those are my main interests. I'm also interested in holistic alternative medicine and using diet and nutrition to help one's mental health. I thought of going to medical school and becoming a psychiatrist, but now I'm a mother and I'd like to do something that I could do on a part time basis until I'm done having children and they're older. I'm sort of interested in research, but it seems like a lot of the research in physiological psychology is done on lab rats. If I ever did research, I'd rather it be with people. I'm primarily interested in clinical work.
I want to help people who are overcoming mental illness, I want to be able to talk to them (not in and out, "yep we'll keep you at x mgs of prozac and see you in 6 months" sort of thing like some psychiatrists), assess their physical health (through blood work, physical exams, etc), help them nutritionally, suggest alternative therapies and if necessary, monitor medications. I'm saying this with little knowledge since I've never done any clinical work, but when I picture myself in a career, that is what I want to be doing. Maybe even focus on adolescents with depression, OCD, anxiety, eating disorders... something like that? Hospital, treatment facility, or private practice, not sure which. I just want to be able to look at the whole person and not just the nutrition or the medication or the talk therapy or physical health.
Is that basically what a psychiatric nurse practitioner would do? Would it help to have degrees in other things first, like psychology and nutrition?
I have out the careers in nursing, health care, nutrition, chemistry, and psychology books out from our local library all at once. You could say this has been on my mind a lot lately
And sorry if this is the wrong place for this question!

Most of the psych NPs that I know function like psychiatrists. They offer medication management services and do psych consults on patients admitted to medsurg or ED. Psych NPs are trained to do talk therapy, but in reality talk therapy is usually done by licensed therapists, clinical social workers and psychologists.

RN1263 · Aug 6, 2007

I'm a new grad R.N. presently waiting to see if I got the psych position I applied for so I don't know how much help I'll be, but here goes......

The only further degree other than your BA you could probably (?) get toward your goal on a "part time" basis would be psychology, I think? Medical school for psychiatry would be full time and so would any type of nursing school (I think).

good luck w/ your decision!

veggiemom · Aug 6, 2007

I should go through and figure out a timeline of when I would be able to do certain educational programs. That would be helpful.

The point of becoming a NP instead of a psychiatrist is so I could do the schooling part-time and be home with my daughter (and future kids). Isn't psychiatric nursing a bit more laid back with hours, too?

RN1263 · Aug 6, 2007

The point of becoming a NP instead of a psychiatrist is so I could do the schooling part-time and be home with my daughter (and future kids). Isn't psychiatric nursing a bit more laid back with hours, too?

Possibly you could find a part time program for general nursing, but in my area I haven't heard of any. Don't let the credit hours fool you, nursing classes are hard even if they're 1 cr hr.

I don't think psych nursing is any more laid back w/ hours. Perhaps I don't understand what you mean? Inpatient psych needs full time coverage 24/7 just like any other field of nursing. Of course, if you became a NP you could probably get a day shift outpatient job.

kevini200 · Aug 14, 2007

First of all-- Veggiemom --- :welcome:

I want to share some advice with you, but before I do that I need to point out that the two comments posted by digmart are absolutely false.

You would first have to get through "general" nursing school BEFORE you could enter any "specialty" NP program.

This is not true at all. Direct entry MSN (Masters of Science in Nursing). This degree is offered by many graduate schools for people who hold a NON-NURSING bachelor's degree. In three years time you could become a psychiatric nurse practitioner.

Also, as far as nursing goes, by the time you went through nursing school, then went on for the NP degree you could've been done with medical school and making alot more $ than a NP.

This doesn't make any sense, either. It would take you three years to become an NP and start earning money (~ $75,000) It would take you 4 years of medical school + 4 years of residency to become a licensed psychiatrist. (you get paid a stipend 0f ~ 35,00 - 50,000 during residency, but that is offset by the $100,000+ in debt you will have accumulated in Medical school)

-- I will concede, however, that in the long run you will make more money as a psychiatrist MD ( they average ~140,000)

I am not an expert on this topic by any means (I'm still a nursing student), but I do want to share a few pieces of info with you.

Veggiemom "I'm a mother and I'd like to do something that I could do on a part time basis"

This is not so much a problem of working as a nurse as it is becoming a nurse.--- Regardless of weather you go to school through a ' 2nd degree BSN' or ' direct entry MSN', you will be required to go to school full time (fairly difficult programs, too).

However, if you can find the time to go back to school and get a nursing license, you will be able to work ANY type of schedule you want.-- Days or nights , 10 hours a week or 80 hours a week, three 12 hours shifts (this is common and counts as full time) - five 8 hour shifts- 1- 16 hour shift etc etc. This is one real advantage that nursing holds over many other professions.

I will not go in to detail about Med school as I will assume you've already looked in to it and realize how intensive that route would be.

As far as getting a PhD or Psy.D in Psychology -- Something that many people don't realize ( well, at least I didn't until just recently) is just how competitive most PhD Psychology programs are. -- On average, they are far more competitive than most medical schools. (believe it or not) However, should you get accepted, some programs will allow you to go part time (though doing this would probably mean that it would take you the better part of a decade to get the degree)

-- I would do some more research on psychology career options if that is something you are interested in. Contrary to what you said about them mostly doing research on rats, I get the impression that they are provided a lot of flexibility and freedom in choosing what type of research to conduct.

Sorry for the long rambling post -- Please feel free to ask me any questions. -- I'm just a student, but I have done a lot of research on several of the career paths you mentioned.

-Kevin

RN1263 · Aug 14, 2007

I want to share some advice with you, but before I do that I need to point out that the two comments posted by dijmart are absolutely false...........

Veggiemom,

I forgot about the "direct entry msn", I DO appologize......my bad:trout:!...I was not intentionally trying to give you false info. I have gone back to my post and edited out that portion so as to not confuse anyone else.

In my area there is only one school about an hour away that has that program (that I forgot about :uhoh21:) and it is hard to get into from what I've heard. I can't imagine going through a program where you learn general nursing and NP in 3 yrs.! But, they have the program therefore it's not impossible!

Good luck w/ whatever you decide to do .

PsychMaven · Nov 2, 2007

I love to see people interested in psychiatric nursing! I am just finishing my BS in Psych. and am applying to direct-entry psychiatric np programs for next year. I had the chance to do a lot of research on what psych np's actually can do and when I found out that I could go to school for as long as a social worker, make as much as a psychologist, and be able to prescribe, which neither of them can do, I pretty much made up my mind. Everything you spoke about sounds more than possible and it's great to see people interested in mental health. I've been working in psych. for the past three years in residential treatment homes for dual diagnosis and one for women with borderline personality disorder and being immersed in that kind of environment was helpful in realizing that psych. is for me. I've also been working at McLean Psychiatric Hospital for the past year and can say that, after working under a Psych. NP, we have so many options as far as career choices are concerned. I would be sure that you really enjoy psych. and ALL that it entails and be sure that you are not drawn towards it because of part-time opportunity; it is much too emotionally taxing of a field if you aren't really passionate about it. That said, it sounds like psychiatric nursing may be for you. Feel free to ask me any questions about the psych. field that you may have and good luck!

Leahr · Nov 6, 2007

I can't wait to get through the obligatory year of bed side nursing so I can start applying to psych jobs. I live in Chicago and most units require experience. So as a new grad, I took a job in Tele, which is OK.

Jules A, MSN · Dec 1, 2007

I can't wait to get through the obligatory year of bed side nursing so I can start applying to psych jobs. I live in Chicago and most units require experience. So as a new grad, I took a job in Tele, which is OK.

I don't understand why you feel there is an obligatory year of bed side nursing but I'm glad to hear you like tele.