cp027

My school requires A&P II before Med-Surg and microbiology before pathophysiology. I'm not sure if A&P I has to be done before admittance or just before Med-Surg.

I have nothing to contribute, but just wanted to say thanks for the suggestions. I will be checking these out myself.

Thanks for the suggestions. I checked out the book list and will be checking to see if the library has any of those. I hadn't considered trying to work as a tech but I will be keep that in mind. It isn't really feasible with my schedule at the moment, but I'm sure it would be really good experience. How much training do they usually give you for that? Maybe I could find something halfway relevant to the field that takes volunteers.

I am currently a student in an LPN-RN (associate degree) fast track program. We just finished the 1st semester of our 3 semester program. Psychiatric nursing was covered in our 1st semester and our clinicals included very little time on a psych rotation. I did a few clinical days at a mental health facility and that consisted of sitting in on therapy sessions and practicing therapeutic communications with the clients one on one. We are now completely through with mental health so there will be no further clinicals dedicated to that setting. I have been an LPN for quite some time, but I've never worked in a mental health setting. The only experience I have with psychiatric patients (if I can even count it as experience) is from working in corrections, some in working with clients with developmental disabilities and working at a LTC facility that had a high percentage of residents with mental illnesses. There really aren't any options for psych as an LPN in this area. When I consider what I'd like to do upon graduation I keep coming back to the mental health field. I'd like to work at an inpatient psychiatric facility, a psych floor at a hospital, or a treatment facility for substance abuse. I was wondering if anyone in this field might have any suggestions on reading material or other resources I could utilize to increase my knowledge on the subject before I graduate. I don't see a lot of interest in the subject being displayed in our program or among my peers. I know I'd have an immense amount of learning to do to prepare to work in the field. Thanks for any insight into this matter.