Poll: What do you love about psych nursing?

Morgan314 · Jul 14, 2006

I love working with psych patients, especially those with "severe and persistant mental illness" because these people often have limited support in their homes and community and they need someone to love them. I love helping them move beyond sickness into wellness and helping them understand that with treatment, they can live a "normal" life. I enjoy learning from them.

here_kitty · Jul 14, 2006

Morgan314: Thank you for your reply! Your response is very compassionate, a quality all psych nurses should have! I am a new grad, and I REALLY loved my psych rotation, and I have an opportunity to interview for a part time psych position...so I guess I am trying to determine if I have 'what it takes'. Thanks again!

Morgan314 · Jul 15, 2006

So, Here Kitty, do you think you have what it takes? What might that be? Sounds like you must have what it takes or you wouldn't have enjoyed your psych rotation. I think I was the only one in our nursing class that actually ejoyed it!!! I hope you will interview for the job and let us hear how it goes. If you ever what to know what psych nurses "don't love," you might want to ask that question too.

here_kitty · Jul 16, 2006

What you don't like is a good question...I wonder how much is similar to what med-surg nurses don't like? I think I'll start a new thread.

CharlieRN · Jul 17, 2006

what do you love about psych nursing? what was your motivation for choosing psych nursing as a specialty? :monkeydance:

no white uniform!

my peers are sane! seriously, the general nursing population reflects the mental health of the general public. psych nurses are held to a higher standard. and in a good institution we are careful to help each other stay sane. when i worked on the womens specialty unit, there was a weekly group therapy for the male staff so that we could deal with being the target of so much displaced hostility. the sanity of the staff is the single greatest resource of a psych tx facility.

its hard to be a turkey when you work with eagles.

indigo girl · Jul 17, 2006

no white uniform!
My peers are sane! Seriously, the general nursing population reflects the mental health of the general public. Psych nurses are held to a higher standard. And in a good institution we are careful to help each other stay sane. When I worked on the womens specialty unit, there was a weekly group therapy for the male staff so that we could deal with being the target of so much displaced hostility. The sanity of the staff is the single greatest resource of a psych tx facility.
Its hard to be a turkey when you work with eagles.

Charlie, that's really interesting. I have never heard that before. I have to believe you however as your posts are always so balanced and make so much sense. You are a good advertisement for psych.

PsychRN-Kris · Jul 18, 2006

I love that there is never, and I mean NEVER, a dull moment. I also noticed of all places I rotated during school, the psych nurses tended to be a very friendly group of individuals with a lot of compassion and patience and a level of team work that was so insipring.

CharlieRN · Jul 19, 2006

... I also noticed of all places I rotated during school, the psych nurses tended to be a very friendly group of individuals with a lot of compassion and patience and a level of team work that was so insipring.

This is what I'm talking about.

On a med surg unit if a staff person is grumpy or maybe hung over, noone cares so long as she does her tasks. A psych nurse's work is done with their voice and mind and personality more than it is with their hands. If you are depressed, anxious, irritable or chemically impaired you are not just an annoyence and difficult to work around, you are crippled, unable to do your work and a hazard to the unit.

This does not mean we don't have problems like everyone else. Just that we are fucused on them and make an effort to help eachother solve the problem. About ten years ago I was in a full time float position. I was approached by another nurse who worked a 24 hr slot as charge and only RN on a small unit where she had so antagonized the staff that they did not want to work with her. I gather she was going through a rough patch in her life and was not at her best. She is a very competent nurse and very firm in her opinions under the best of circumstances. The unit she was on had a more than average "cooperative decision making" style. It was a match made in hell. We arranged to switch so that I took her 3 days on that unit and she worked them as a float. As a float she was in less authority and was never working alone as the only RN and hopefully she was under less stress. She has gotten past her rough patch and still works with us.

anichols · Aug 9, 2006

i like having to be mentally on my toes and ready at all times. yeah, i can do a tube or iv or run a code...so can any nurse (some do it better though!). but i get the chance to make a difference by picking up on the subtle nuances, not just going "oh, look--the dressing needs changed again and here's your antibiotic".... psych nusres don't just treat symptoms and wounds or see the person as a medical diagnosis (ie--diabetic, oncology, what-have-you)--we try to heal the whole person!

Thanet · Aug 14, 2006

I could write a whole book on what I like about Psychi...

Sistermoon · Aug 29, 2006

When I was on my psych rotation and studying hard (1 year ago) I kept feeling like I was missing something BIG in the learning process, and I've never been so frustrated... kind of like having to move the bun aside to find the meat hiding somewhere under the pickle. Kept looking in the books for the missing piece, and it just wasn't there. Then I attended a seminar at the facility at night, after all my classmates had gone home, and the speaker gave us a history lesson on being "the wounded healer". It actually brought tears to my eyes...finally, the burger. I am a psych nurse because I know that we're all, in one way or another, the walking wounded.