Need advice from psych nurses!

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I am currently an undergraduate at a small university on the Eastern Shore. I am working towards my bachelor's degree in Psychology with minors in Business and Spanish (as you can see, I have no idea what I want to do when I graduate!). I recently heard of psych nursing and I was just wondering what it involves? What does a psych nurse do on a daily basis? What kind of further education should I start to think about? I also love the Spanish language and was wondering if any psych nurses out there have encountered any occupations that the language could be incorporated into? Any feedback would be wonderful! One more question if anyone feels comfortable answering it... salary?

Thank you!

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Psych nursing involves becoming a nurse, first. No surprise there. A nurse with an undergraduate degree is responsible for administering meds, assessing the patient, ensuring the safety of all patients and staff on the unit, and educating patients and leading groups. Patients can range in age from very young children to the elderly.

During nursing school nurses usually have a semester of psych with clinical. After graduation you may be able to get a job in a mental health facility. It does help to have some experience as a tech, but isn't always necessary.

Nurses work in a variety of settings, mostly inpatient with various disorders including specialists in eating disorders and substance abuse.

At the Master's level, nurses can be therapists and NPs with prescriptive authority.

Being bilingual can be an enormous asset in any aspect of healthcare, including psych.

Salary varies depending on location. Usually psych nurses make about the same as other nurses in the area. State facilities tend to pay a bit less, but have good benefits.

Best of luck with your choice.

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This is a good site, if you haven't been already:

http://www.discovernursing.com/

Maybe you could find some psychologists or LCSWs to shadow and learn more about the field?

Good luck!

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Psych.

You can also learn a lot about psych nursing by reading through the threads on this forum.

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