Outpatient psychiatric nursing

Thanet · Apr 2, 2008

Can any of you give me an idea of the difference in pay inpatient vs. outpatient? I have an interview on Friday at an outpatient clinic, but it's about 40mi from where I live and I wonder if it will pay enough to make up for the price of gas! Also, what exactly does an outpatient psyc nurse do? My experience is one year inpatient psyc as an RN, along with 5 years experience working with the mentally ill and homeless with a B.S. in Psychology. Thanks!!!

It would help in these sort of posts to say where you are, as pay is different from state to state (So I believe) and certainly from one country to another.

The same would be true to what we actually do.

atomic1976 · Apr 2, 2008

I'm in Northwestern Pennsylvania. Thanks!

elkpark · Apr 2, 2008

In my experience over the years, outpatient psych nursing positions seem to generally pay significantly less than inpatient. Of course, the "trade-off" is a regular "9-5," M-F schedule, all holidays off, etc. (Same as with inpatient-vs.-outpatient nursing jobs in other specialty areas ...) The duties depend on the individual facility and position, of course, but common duties would include providing medication education, administering depot shots, assessing for med side effects, and dealing with client telephone calls about medications and other issues.

EarthChild1130 · Apr 5, 2008

My pay is about $300 a month less, and I work 8-5 Monday to Friday...holidays, nights, weekends off.

In addition to what Elkpark mentioned, I send a LOT of prescription refills to pharmacies...I also run a diabetic education class.