Psych NP questions

[djk883]

Hello all,

I am currently a male student with a 3.7 GPA and I am applying for my school's nursing program. I have a strong interest in psychology and the idea of medicine and therapy. I have looked into becoming a psych NP, I heard shadowing is difficult due to privacy, so if a psych NP or even a psych RN could comment on what their typical day is like that would be great! Are you satisfied with your job, any regrets? I have also considered PA, MD, PT, OT school as well. I am pretty undecided.

thanks!

[Granted Fal]

In terms of being a psych APRN, it really depends on the school you got to when you're doing a preceptorship. Mostly the patients love attention from any staff. My suggestion is to work some shifts on a psych unit and get a feel for the atmosphere. It is really about three things, connecting with people, communicating effectively and respectfully, and crowd control. For me that part was no big deal, but it was finding preceptors to help you while you're in school.

For RN school the school takes care of the preceptor stuff and you just go do what they tell you to do.

For NP school, if your school already has affiliation agreements in place (agreement that your school can send students to their hospital )then it's just making a bunch of calls to find preceptors that are willing to take you. The struggle sometimes is in the stupid policies some facilities have, e.g. the therapy department telling you "all interns have to do a 750 hr block of time, " and you explain, e.g. "I only need 56 hours for this rotation, I'm not an intern I'm a nursing student." Going to different disciplines can be challenging because they aren't nursing disciplines and don't understand what you're doing, and the majority of psychiatrists don't do therapy, esp. in an inpatient setting.

So if the school doesn't have affiliation agreements in place then you really have a task to find independent practice people to allow you to sit in, or creating affiliation agreements. Affiliating a hospital could take months and depends on legal dept crap often times and they aren't in any rush to help you out. THis could make or break a semester depending on timing.

As far as shadowing, only very few patients typically disagree with that, and if they do, you're better off with that. Most have no problem at all. Be humble and supportive.

For what you do for the day: Psych RNs pull orders, give meds and do unit based work. There can be adversity in a psychiatric setting and even violence. By you have to be very attuned to the environment or stuff can happen. Deaths, suicides, self-injury other sentinel events. It can be demanding but rewarding, interesting and exciting work.

As an NP you prescribe and give supportive therapy in the psych field. You manage labs and side-effects, you do crowd control sometimes but generally not. I also draw labs, but most don't do that. You never do what the RN does so don't get lost with that idea. Emulate the physician's role. And if you position yourself well and negotiate you can make triple what an RN makes on average.

Hope that helps,

Best

RFal

[djk883]

Thanks for the response. I also like the idea of treating physical conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. Can a pmhnp prescibe and treat other illnesses? Or should I go for FNP and obtain a pysch certificate? Can a FNP work in pysch without a pysch certificate?

[Pantoinette4]

I am in PMHNP program & I'm glad I've decided to pursue this professional path. I was one that avoiding working in psyche like the plaque. Once I got a job in this area I found out I love it. I totally agree with the post above yours. Try to work in psyche first before you make your decision because psych isn't for everyone. Best of luck!