I've been a nurse for 2 1/2 years at a very busy med-surg/tele floor. It's very hectic everyday, pt care can be heavy with IVs, tube feedings, wound care, admits/discharges. I floated a couple of times to the psychiatric ward and the work load was SOO easy. No pt with IVs or tube feedings, most were able to ambulate, feed themselves, etc. I like mental health nursing but am afraid I would lose nursing skills that took a long time to learn. I feel like I'm still learning. I've thought about if the opportunity to transfer to the pysch ward came up I would transfer and maybe take a PRN job at another hospital in Med-surg so I wouldn't forget my skills. I have heard the risk for violence is much higher up in psych ward, but I'm getting tired of the hectic pace of my job. I don't feel like I have enough time to deliver the care that was taught in school.
I was interested in psych nursing. I still may be. My psych rotation was the most interesting of them all for me! Is the pay THAT much lower, because I have seen many of the things you have described, but I'm still facinated!
to be honest, i did both. and i can say this.. it depends on which psych unit. i did a lockdown unit with mostly 5150's,5250 with chemical dependency. it felt like i was a nurse in a jail ward... without guards!!! yes i got hurt. yes i got hit. it was soooo mentally draining. not as physical, but can u imagine uncooperative patients x20 of them. it's like nonstop annoyance/stress. on the other hand, ive been on psych units where people are mostly depressed, didnt' want to eat etc etc.. those are a lot calmer.. but yea.. so u gotta look into which unit. as much as i liked psych, i was really done when some patients were using me like a verbal punching bag, cussing, drug seeking, trying to escape. and seeing coworkers get hurt . i can honestly say it was the worst experience of my life.. the crazy thing is, we had psychotic people wanting to hurt nurses.. and pregnant nurses working on the ward.. 7+ months pregnant. CRAZY!!!! these guys will take one look at u and punch u to the ground with no mercy!
Yeah it isn't easier just different and really needs to be something you enjoy and have an affinity for, imo. Please don't burden your team or our patients by just taking up space behind the nurses station on a psych floor.
I'm a newer nurse working psych for the county. It is not easier but it is much more dangerous. I work in long term care which I mistakingly thought was like any other long term care with geriatric pts. Nope, not at all! Age ranges from 20's on up to 70's all living together. Most of the time there is so much violent potential, manipulation, staff splitting, not to mention difficult coworkers who seem to only want to see pts put on restriction or put into ambs or 4points.
When my gut tells me something is going to go horribly wrong any second, I have to call security and pray they get there in time to protect myself and my staff. Many of my pts have more than just psych stuff going on. There is still HIV, Hep, wound tx, etc. To look around and know that any of my pts could easily kill me without warning is super scary at times. Many nurses come and work a shift or two and get out on time. Most have no idea how to be therapeutic and miss the whole mark on psych nursing. There are times when it isn't as physically demanding at running in med-surg, but it will suck you dry mentally. Just my
Detox units are fun. People detoxing can really get in your face when the only thing between them and the meds is you and your keys. Seriously, you will use your assessment skills and give a looooooot of prn meds.
The thing that's hard about psych is, you don't just have one pt. that is difficult, you can have an entire unit that's on edge and difficult. What's really fun, is it's your job to figure out how to calm the storm. After 5pm the therapists and MD's go home.
Sadly, people who do the hiring in human resources think if you don't have recent med-surg experience you can't possibly handle the pace. Be careful if you make the switch to keep your toe in the acute care water. (it could be as little as 1 or 2 prn shifts a month, until you see if psych is for you.)
You couldn't PAY me enough money to be a Psych nurse! No thank you! Trust me being in an ICU of a small community hospital that has TWO FLOORS of psych pt's I see my fair share of them and I KNOW I don't have the patience for them on a regular basis. So hats off to all the psych nurses out there as I know I could never be one.
I'm a last-semester RN student who started this program specifically to do psych nursing. I was open to being interested in other things, though. Last semester, I was in ICU...and while 90% of my class was LOVING their long-awaited ICU experience, I realized I never, ever, ever could do ICU nursing. How I dreaded ICU...most of the patients were on vents and didn't talk! Everything was so focused on the acutely physical problems and so much of the acutely psychological problems were (understandably) on the back burner, and it felt like I was monitoring machines more than people that...I was...BORED, even. :) I like the patient interaction, sometimes longer-term stays, socially/behaviorally hectic unit, interesting and underserved population, and unique clinical skills I need to know to do a good job as a mental health nurse. I guess if you weren't interested in that stuff, it might seem easier, but only because you'd kind-of not really be taking the job to be good at it and good for the patients.
Anyhow. Psych isn't by default easier than any other unit. It's different, for sure, but in the same way as a cardiac unit is different from a hospice unit -- different priorities, different illnesses, different needs, different skill sets emphasized. And like others have said, there often is med surg going on on a psych floor, and there oughta be more psych interventions going on on general med surg floors, too. I happen to be really interested in mental health nursing, and that's because I find it more challenging and rewarding (for me) than med surg or critical care.
Good thing there are some of us interested in most areas. I've spent 2 years of nursing school fighting off any and all faculty members who tried to convince me I don't want to do mental health nursing. :) I wanted to do psych nursing when I started, and I want to even more now that I'm almost done.
. i can honestly say it was the worst experience of my life.. the crazy thing is, we had psychotic people wanting to hurt nurses.. and pregnant nurses working on the ward.. 7+ months pregnant. CRAZY!!!! these guys will take one look at u and punch u to the ground with no mercy!
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bluelion
39 Posts
I was interested in psych nursing. I still may be. My psych rotation was the most interesting of them all for me! Is the pay THAT much lower, because I have seen many of the things you have described, but I'm still facinated!