Psych Nurse ="not a REAL nurse"?

labcat01, BSN, RN · Mar 21, 2006

a psyc nurse is not a real nurse....kind of like how a surgeon isn't really a doctor:lol2:

perfectbluebuildings, BSN, RN · Mar 21, 2006

In a word... NO. It's definitely a different focus in your assessment skills. It is more subtle skills maybe used sometimes, so that if you are not familiar it might seem that you are "just talking" with your patients and passing medications, when in reality it is much more than that. Sure there are psych nurses who just slide by and do the least they can do, but that is the case in every single kind of nursing. (I am a very new peds nurse just to give you an idea of where I'm coming from, also have some family experience w/mental health system)

jen42 · Mar 21, 2006

I think psych nurses are real nurses... but of course I've worked as one. :)

There *is* less technical skill involved than many areas. But nursing isn't just technical skills, we're not mechanics.

purplemania, BSN, RN · Mar 21, 2006

What makes a nurse real? I would say the caring and patient advocacy. Neither of those things require technology.

GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN · Mar 21, 2006

I used to get that from others when I was a psych nurse. I know I was a real nurse. I work med/surg now, but I can't say that makes me more of a nurse just b/c I do more "skills" now.

chris_at_lucas_RN, RN · Mar 21, 2006

Then a psychiatrist is not a real doctor.

And circulating nurses in the OR aren't real either, since they don't do procedures.....

Lots of wonderful responses in this thread.

Wish I'd had half this creativity when my mother (a "real" nurse from 1949 until about 2003) said that to me....

Gee, I think having RN after my name makes me "real" too.....

BTW, you really do need good assessment skills in psych nursing, and not just for psych issues. You need to be able to pick up signs and symptoms from people who are often a whole lot less able to get a good history (much less a current description of their present status).... real nurses, yup, that's us.

jetsetter · Mar 21, 2006

I have nothing but admiration for the psych nurses who help us out w/our suicides/druggies etc. Don't think I'd want her to start an iv on my child...but I know I couldn't do what she does, w/the skill and grace she does it.

Nothing but admiration from me.

mandana · Mar 21, 2006

What makes a nurse real? I would say the caring and patient advocacy. Neither of those things require technology.

I'm in the middle of my psych rotation now and let me tell you. The RN I'm working with right now at the State Hospital is a real nurse. She's smart, she cares about her patients, and most importantly, she is the BEST patient advocate I've EVER seen - throughout nursing school. When I told her that, she said, "But that's what my job is." I smiled, because to her, that's the critical issue. But she'll get up in the MD's face and fight for those patients, but she does it with respect and the patients best interest in mind - and I love her for it. She's a real nurse. I'm sure of it.

Amanda

imenid37 · Mar 22, 2006

Being a psych nurse..way too hard for me. I give you a lot of credit. I think you have to be tough and compassionate. I just don't have that kind of patience. No doubt you in my mind folks in psych are REAL nurses.

Meerkat · Mar 22, 2006

Thanks for the responses.

vamedic4, EMT-P · Mar 22, 2006

I'm with jetsetter on this one...all of you who are psych nurses are ABSOLUTELY "REAL" NURSES. Give yourselves a pat on the back for choosing a nursing field that I personally feel scared to death of. Kudos to all of you psych nurses!!!

"Crazy, I was crazy once..they locked me in a room full of rats...Rats?? Rats make me crazy...crazy...I was crazy once...