Medical NP Vs Psychiatric NP?

[TraumaRN21]

i'm trying to decide what should be the next step in my career. i started my nursing career four years ago in a nationally recognizeddrug rehab/detox center as a lpn. in 16 months i became an rn and remained there per diem but went full time at a level one trauma/neuro / med-surg hospital. i remained at that hospital but i got a second per diem job at a children's psychiatric facility. i love both and now i'm trying to decide should i get becomean adult np or a psychiatric np? i would appreciate some insight into the job opportunities for a mental health np? how long did it take you to find a job after graduating? what is the pay difference/ pay scale between both if any? what does a mental health np do? i hear there is a shortage of mental health np's but when i look on the job boards i see mostly job openings for medical np's. any insight would be appreciated.

[harmonizer]

I feel like there's many threads for this ___VS Psych NP topic already. :)

I hope I am not repeating myself. Job opportunities are much more abundant for Adult NP and FNP. Yes, for sure. That's why when you searched, you see a lot more jobs from medical NP. But remember, at this time, despite the very small numbers of opening in psych, the number of new grad for psych NP is still kept at low level. In my state, there is 2 schools for Psych NP VS 6 schools for FNP. But remember, if the school increases the enrollment just a little bit, the Psych NP can be easily saturated due to that small amount of opening. It will change in the future and it maybe harder to get a job. So if you think about job opportunities/flexibility, FNP/ Medical NP is much better.

So here is the logic. More new grads produced for Medical NP but A LOT more job openings. Much less job availability for Psych NP but less new grads produced. Make sense? job prospect should be the same long as the school keep producing at the same ratio.

[rich2008]

do what you enjoy the most. I do psych two days a week and medical three days a week. If my medical job became four days a week, i would probably kiss psych goodbye. For me, the psych days are just getting to be exhausting and not in a stimulating way. There are more jobs for FNP but if you want to focus on adults, then just study adults. I think there are changes coming in the psych programs to include more child stuff. good luck.

[harmonizer]

Rich2008 is right.. There are a lot more jobs for FNPs. Try FNP route. You can change to psych later when you pursue DNP or change specialty later. But most importantly, do what you enjoy but FNP will give you much more job opportunities, security, and flexibility up front. Psych is too limited.. I am seriously considering getting FNP in the future after getting my child stuff.