New grad psych as first job, bad idea?

mentalhealthRN · Mar 1, 2011

I believe there is a thread here not that old with exactly that same question. I think it might still be in the main list under psych nursing. Pros and cons to both really. I have worked with both nurses with medical experience and some who started with psych right out nursing school. It is helpful especially on a medical inpatient psych unit that provides basic medical treatment to have experience. But obviously the job can be done without it. Of the nurses without medical experience I have seen a mix--some that don't want to learn and are happy to have to push their work onto another nurse who can ge the task done. Others who are embarrased and wish they knew how to do the task themselves and hate to impose on the other nurses. However when you finish you may not be able to be so picky. As you may have gathered from the posts here on A.N. jobs are hard to find these days so you may have to take what you can get. If you are able to get a medical job and do that for a year or two it is great to take that experience with you. I had to do a number of medical things on the inpatient unit that I wouldn't have know how to do if I had no medical experience--though I only had about 2 years, it was enough--if you you work peds psych there may be a bit less medical as they tend to be more healthy due to age, other then the occasional asthmatic kid or kid with DM. So maybe depending on the area of psych you want. In geri-psych medical is definately really needed. Give a search here and you will find there have been at least a few thread on this subject. Good luck to you.

studentrn28 · Mar 1, 2011

Thanks so much for the reply, it was helpful! I searched and went through the first 8 pages, but I'm new so maybe I'm doing it wrong haha.