Med surg before psych?

Hoozdo, ADN · Jul 9, 2005

Hey everyone,
Is it possible to go directly into psych nursing without previous nursing experience? My license just arrived today and now I need to find a job. Psych was my absolute favorite rotation.
Thanks, Frank

Well Frank, I have the same question too! I loved my psych clinicals and get my RN in December. Nursing is my second career and I am also an organ transplant recipeint - which means I am immune comprimised for the rest of my life. I don't have a great desire to hang around hospitals dealing with pts with MRSA, VREs, and TB. All opinions welcome.

TIA,

Lu Ann

nursegretchen · Jul 9, 2005

https://allnurses.com/forums/#

I am a new grad and just started my first RN job at a psych hospital. It is possible to begin a career in psch. Most people say that it is always better to do a year of med-surg first. The way I look at it is that both med-surg and psych can be good bases to start out with in nursing. What I learn from this job can be used in any field of nursing. Good luck to you!

RNAnna · Jul 9, 2005

I know of one hospital - one of the larger in the country - that has a M/S psych floor. You may be able to combine the two and get the best of both worlds. I personally agree. I love psych. I want to work psych, but I am in a very rural area and so I am trying to incorporate psych aspects into my current M/S position. You would be amazed at how under served the psych clients are in this area of the country, and how many clients that I have that have mental health issues. I feel that I am caring for the whole person this way.

Anna

Altra, BSN, RN · Jul 10, 2005

I'm not disagreeing with those who say that med-surg experience first is the best route ... it's certainly never a bad idea. But if there's a specialty area where you have clear interest and aptitude I see no reason why you shouldn't pursue it. Roughly half of my class that just graduated is headed to some specialty.

Go for it! Good luck to you. :)

maxthecat · Jul 10, 2005

Hey everyone,
Is it possible to go directly into psych nursing without previous nursing experience? My license just arrived today and now I need to find a job. Psych was my absolute favorite rotation.
Thanks, Frank

First, I'm happy that you are interested in Psych--we need good nurses. I have been employed on an acute adult psychiatric unit for 2 1/2 years now. Before that I worked med-surg and NICU. I would not want to go into Psych these days without a strong med-surg background. The days of relaxed one to one conversations with healthy adults are gone. My unit is supposed to accept only medically stable patients--however, many of these patients turn out to be not so stable! (Intake people desperate for bed placement tend to "forget to mention" important info.) In the two years that I have been there I have dealt with patients who had CVA, acute MI, status epilepticus, pneumonia, sepsis--you get the picture. Yes, we did transfer to med-surg or ICU when these things occured, but my point is you need to know what to do to stabilize these patients while awaiting transfer. You need to be able to start an IV, etc. And you need to know how to deal with the med-surg docs and nurses so you can give a report that includes what they need to know. You also need med-surg assessment skills so that you can catch when a patient is starting to go downhill medically and so that (again) you can give report to a med doc with pertinent info to back up your belief and get these patients transferred so that the problems I mentioned above happen on a medical floor and not on your unit. The psychiatrists are usually too far removed from medical to see to these things--they'll say "if you think they need more intensive medical monitoring it's OK with me" and have you talk to the potential receiving doc. You need to sound like you know what you're talking about when you do so or you may be written off as "oh, it's just a stupid psych nurse overreacting." (And by the way there are good reasons for them to have this prejudice. A lot of psych nurses without strong medical background DO overreact and lead to the stereotype of psych nurses as "too dumb to make it in REAL nursing." I hate, hate, hate to be stigmatized this way, but, as I say, coming from the other side I do understand it.) So my advice is to get a year of med-surg. What you have learned in nursing school is not enough to comfortably and competently take care of medical patients. You won't regret it and it will make you a better psych nurse for the psych patients we see today. Again, best wishes to you. I love psych and can't imagine doing anything else now.

maxthecat · Jul 10, 2005

Well Frank, I have the same question too! I loved my psych clinicals and get my RN in December. Nursing is my second career and I am also an organ transplant recipeint - which means I am immune comprimised for the rest of my life. I don't have a great desire to hang around hospitals dealing with pts with MRSA, VREs, and TB. All opinions welcome.
TIA,
Lu Ann

Psych patients tend to have higher than usual chance of having AIDS, Hepatitis, TB, and your geri-psych patients may well test positive for MRSA or VRE. Not saying don't go into Psych but be aware there are risks with these patients.

BETSRN · Jul 11, 2005

Hey everyone,
Is it possible to go directly into psych nursing without previous nursing experience? My license just arrived today and now I need to find a job. Psych was my absolute favorite rotation.
Thanks, Frank

A med-surg background never hurts. Psych patients usually have multiple medical problems as well as emotional ones.

zenfeck · Jul 15, 2005

Just wanted to thank everyone for responding. I have an interview on Mon. for a medsurg floor. I guess I've decided to get a little (or a hell of alot :rolleyes: ) more experience before diving into the world of psychiatric nursing.

Frank

Thressa · Jul 19, 2005

Hey Frank....I took a psych job...about 5 weeks ago and now am sort of thinking about looking at the hospital at a med-surg...In psych...you pass alot of pills...do assesstments...but you don't utilize any skills you have just accomplished..............go to med-surg...perfect some of the skills, and get some other skills they can teach you...it will all come in handy then go onto psych.................you won't regret it.........................Thressa

Hey everyone,
Is it possible to go directly into psych nursing without previous nursing experience? My license just arrived today and now I need to find a job. Psych was my absolute favorite rotation.
Thanks, Frank

Hoozdo, ADN · Jul 19, 2005

Psych patients tend to have higher than usual chance of having AIDS, Hepatitis, TB, and your geri-psych patients may well test positive for MRSA or VRE. Not saying don't go into Psych but be aware there are risks with these patients.

I would like to thank every one who responded :) I read in another thread that it is never too early to apply for a new grad job. I have one semester left until I am ready for NCLEX so I applied for a new grad job in transplantation online. I was hired less than a week afterword! I will be a LPN extern and only have to work two 12 hour shifts a month during my last semester. If I have to do med/surg this is my dream job. I am immune suppressed and so are my patients :rotfl:

Thanks,

Lu Ann

cdm369 · Jul 19, 2005

Hey Frank....I took a psych job...about 5 weeks ago and now am sort of thinking about looking at the hospital at a med-surg...In psych...you pass alot of pills...do assesstments...but you don't utilize any skills you have just accomplished..............go to med-surg...perfect some of the skills, and get some other skills they can teach you...it will all come in handy then go onto psych.................you won't regret it.........................Thressa

What is the big draw for psych nursing? How is it different? I liked studying psychology, but I don't think that has much to do with psych nursing, does it?