need advice from fellow nurses

Nurses General Nursing

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ive always wanted to work in mental health or in a drug rehab facility.i currently work in ltc since dec.im a fairly new nurse.i was think of possibly trying to get a job in a hospital but i know thats a hard feat, but my question is if i switched over to mental health now would i be losing oppurtunities to learn because seems to me you dont get to use your skills in mental health...am i wrong???should i stay in ltc or try to get hospital work to work on my skills before i even think about transitioning to mental health???

Specializes in psych, correctional, detox.

hospitals in massachusetts aren't hiring RN's without a BSN now. You either need your BSN or at least a year of med surg experience to even get looked at. One person out of our class of 62 that grad. in may has gotten a hospital job. it stinks.

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I'm in the same predictament, but the other option for me is correctional nursing vs. LT acute rehab. correctional makes $8-$10 more an hour, but does a hospital recognize correctional nursing as nursing experience? I don't want to jump to yet another job just to have them say that your time at the jail doesn't really apply to what a hospital is looking for! I also do nursing in a detox per diem and it's great..as a per diem job :0)

how is it working in a detox center?

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Why don't you keep both jobs? per diem for one job, part-time or full-time for the other job, like I do. Mental Health is an interesting and challenging place to work, you need to be mentally prepare.

hey thats a good idea thanks=D

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Against all the advice of my instructors (none of whom had worked in mental health), I went straight into mental health nursing as soon as I graduated. I hate med/surg - bed sores make me gag. I found I was excellent with MH patients - pediatric MH was the whole reason I wanted to be a nurse.

Think of it this way - nursing is a constantly changing field. Say you work in psych for a few years and then decide to go back into med/surg. After a few years, you'll have a ton to learn anyway - think of all the new meds that come out, new protocols, etc. And psych changes just as quickly, if not moreso.

Don't let people convince you the psych nursing is the easy way out - I think there's an attitude that "real" nursing is medical, but lemme tell you, it's just a different skill set.

Do what you love, it's never too late to change specializations - it's the great thing about nursing.

thank u laura you really got me thinking now

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