lucni01

Thank you. Glad I am not alone in this. Some days are worse. I try to hang out with my best friend and her kids on those days to distract myself. :)

Unit keys, pen, Le petit compendium (quick reference drug guide), a homemade laminate sheet with major psychiatric crisis (ie. EPS, seritonin syndrome), ID, and gloves. Don't forget the coffee!

Well, that is all up to the company. If there are no experience qualifications, then yes. Does that mean you will get the job? It is quite possible. However, this depends on how many people are applying for the job and how your interview goes. If you show a genuine interest in the area and have plenty of patience, then go ahead and apply for it! Psychiatric nursing is great, and I started working there right out of University. It's something that you can take with you on any floor you work on. Plus, it will get your foot in the door and if a medical-surgical position comes up, you can apply for that if you suddenly feel psych nursing isn't for you. Good luck!

I have been working as an RN on an acute psychiatric unit for over a year now. I have been lucky to have worked the full time and part time line. I found that the part time line was best for me. Both lines have a mixture of nights and days, most of which are grouped together. As a junior nurse working part-time, I tend to get most of the night shifts (1900-0700). I usually don't mind them with the exception of my first night shift. See, usually the way it works out is that my SO works steady days 530am-9pm on a 5,5,4 schedule. For some reason, my double or triple nights almost always end up on his day shifts. As a result, I don't see him one bit for 3-4 days at a time. It's not that big of a deal and I know it's life, but it still kinda sucks. So for my first night shift, we go to bed together the night before at the same time, just so we can spend a little bit of time together. I'll get up at 9-10am, run errands, sometimes hang out with friends then come back and nap from 3-5 if I can. What I am finding is that I have absolutely no motivation to do anything I enjoy on those days. A lot of the time my best friend is at work (right now she is out of town), my mom works and most of my friends are at work during this time. I know that exercise would help boost my mood (which I usually do on a daily basis), but I just can't bring myself to go about this. If anyone knows what it is like to feel lonely and depressed, you know that it can be hard to get yourself to do anything. After my 1st night I am OK because I sleep most of the day then I'm back to work. Any suggestions as to how to get through this first night shift without feeling so lonely would help. Maybe it's just me and it's something that I will face for the rest of my life....