I am a new grad psych nurse. I have never worked in med/surg or tele. A lot of people tell me this is career sabotage. I basically only really liked psychiatry and public health in school, and was indifferent/ cold to every other specialty. Psych has a special place in my heart. I want to eventually become an FNP and work with the homeless or become a PMHNP (I may have gotten the acronym wrong) and work with the homeless. However, I often feel like (and read stuff online) that makes me think that I have sabotaged myself and will never be able to become a good nurse practitioner without m/s or ICU experience. Is this true?
PeacockMaiden 159 Posts Specializes in psychiatric nursing. Has 3 years experience. Sep 29, 2014 PMHNPs only work with psych issues, so no med/surg or ICU experience is required. Of course it's helpful to have some knowledge of common medical conditions, because you will also be seeing that present in psych patients, but as a PMHNP you will not treat the medical conditions because it's not in your scope of practice.
Nonetheless 344 Posts Sep 30, 2014 PMHNPs only work with psych issues, so no med/surg or ICU experience is required. Of course it's helpful to have some knowledge of common medical conditions, because you will also be seeing that present in psych patients, but as a PMHNP you will not treat the medical conditions because it's not in your scope of practice.But what if I want to do FNP instead of PMHNP? I am not sure yet. I want to work in family practice. Maybe I should become a PA instead of an NP if I decide I want to work in family practice.
Kerber 48 Posts Oct 1, 2014 I started out med surg and hated it!! Went into psych was doing that for last 15 yrs and got burnt out on it. Looking back I am glad I tried other things you either love it or hate it
