PsychNursetoNP

Well, I am sure that you can tell by my name that I have some strong feelings about this. The issue at hand was kind of hinted at by a couple of other nurses who have responded. That is the oldest question in the book! Even for entry level med/surg jobs the nurse manager/director would ask about experience. I have been in psych since I graduated in 2011 with my ADN, and am currently in a Master's program to be a FPNP. I recently started on an acute unit...I can see where you are coming from that your ICU experience might have some relevance in the psychiatric world. If a patient is not medically stable and require restraints, they are sent to ICU. However, like it has been said before, each specialty is a SPECIALTY for that reason. We all, even as individuals in our specialties, have unique skills/strengths and we all have things we need to learn and work on. I recently was a clinical instructor for an ADN program's psychiatric rotation. The first thing I said was, I understand that not all of you are going to love psych, and that is ok! We are all in our specialties because WE LOVE THEM! I wish you the best of luck, but you might want to open your mind because you are going to need it!