need info psych RN and CNS/NP

[usedbrain]

hello all. i am new to this website. i am thinking about psych nursing as a career. i will start nursing school next year and currently volunteer at a mental health clinic. i heard psych nurses outside of hospitals get paid really poorly, and i'd eventually like to get out of a rotation schedule at a hospital. i just need to be able to pay back my student loans. what's your take?

also, i've considered eventually doing this program that will get me a CNS and an NP in psych nursing, but i'm having a really hard time finding information on what kind of jobs there are out there. it seems the only way to make money (again, just to pay off loans, not in it to get rich) is to have a private or group practice, but i may be way into the security of working for someone else to do that.

psych nursing is my passion (at least, i think it will be), but i am seriously considering going into a different field of nursing to get better pay and better hours.

help, please. advice is very welcome, especially if you are a psych RN or CNS.

thanks so much!

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

My MSN is in nursing with a specialization adult psychiatry and mental health and I did not find many venues open to me after I got it (2000). I'm a CNS, and psych CNSs and psych NPs are really alot like each other. I found that there wasn't much of a market for advanced practice psych nurses (includes psych CNSs and psych NPs) where I live. I actually don't know any psych NPs. I also think there aren't many spots, so far, where psych CNSs can be used. I was the only one at the office/clinic I worked in, and it was a network that covered the northern half of an entire state. Of the other two places nearby, that have CNSs...they each only have one, and they have no psych NPs. My clinic/office had no psych NPs. We had 4 medical NPs though, and they did histories, physicals, and medical care of patients who were hospitalized.

I sent applications, got names, and made phone calls, AND got appointments with people to talk about what I could do. It took me over a year to get an advanced practice psych job (in the psychiatrists' clinic/office). I worked as a basic med/surg and psych nurse during that time, and taught university psych clinicals and theory (but I started doing that before I had my MSN). Something else I ran into was that the agencies that grant prescriptive authority didn't necessarily know what a psych CNS is. I was told there was no such thing. I had to prove that I existed and could do what I been trained to do. I went to an excellent university, but was told a few things about my MSN role that didn't prove to be true, and other things were just never addressed. I could go on and on.

Getting my MSN in nursing was a personal goal for me, but it didn't make a whole lot of difference in my life-work. If I had it to do over, I'm not sure I'd do it again. Graduate school is hard work and can cost a fortune in money and time. I'd say it would be good for you to talk to those with a MSN in your locality and expected-speciality about their jobs, to see how it is where you live. Different places are different, I'm sure.

[tothepointeLVN, LVN]

I was considering getting a MHNP eventually but was wondering if perhaps getting a FNP first or simultaneously might be a good idea? Granted I'm just at the start of my training and nursing career but thats my long term goal.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

At some schools, you can get a Masters in nursing with psych specialty....then you get a post masters FNP....then you can be a MHNP by virtue of passing the certification exam for psych NP. Actually, when I took my CNS certification exam, I could have taken the psych NP exam instead, since my education fit that role too. I just chose to take the CNS exam. Advanced practice psych nursing is very complicated--we're a role that people get confused about! We get confused about it too!

[tothepointeLVN, LVN]

I don't think there is a CNS in psych anywhere in the LA area at least not one that I've found but thats a really good plan. .

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

Is there a MSN with a psych specialization where you live? Where I live, that IS a CNS in psych.

[luv2yoga]

That's helpful, Whispera. Thanks for being so frank.