Psych Nurse ="not a REAL nurse"?

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I've heard this twice this week and being a psych nurse, it's very annoying.

Do you nurses in traditional fields feel this way about psych nurses too? Please be candid, I would just really like to know. Thanks!

I am going to be graduating soon and I love psych nursing and I can't wait to start working in a psych unit. I like surgery, but I know what my passion is and I just love it. I even worked the summer as an Extern in a Mental Health Unit and loved every second of it.

However, today in clinical my teacher asked us what area of the hospital we would like to go to for an education day on a different unit. Of course I choose Mental Health.

After asking me if I was sure, and mumbling about how it was a different type of nursing, she told the whole group that "mental health nurses are not real nurses, they are just like social workers". I was not happy with that comment and was quite insulted by it. I know that it is not uncommon for some nurses to think that, but I think that it was extremely unfair of the teacher to say that. Those kinds of opinions she should keep to herself, and defiantly not say it around a student.

Just had to vent,

Kristen

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In the case of a nursing professor stating a psych nurse is not a real nurse I would go to the Dean of Nursing stating that statement is professionally inappropriate and wrong! Write an anonymous letter to the dean if you do not want to be noticed by the prejudice instructor.

Gary,RN,MS,CSP

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Being a psyche nurse is so hard. Psychiatric Nursing was so hard.

I admire psychiatric nurses.

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Specializes in LTC, Rehab, Hospice and Telemetry.

You just have to wonder about instructors sometimes.

My Psyche instructor was so wrapped up in psyche nursing that she distinguished between psyche and "blood hospitals". Her main point was that ALL nurses are psyche nurses because we treat the whole person.

Sorry to hear your instructor is one of the closed minded ones. One instructor I had suggested that nurses who worked part time were not as professional as full timers. She referred to them as refrigerator nurses. They were somehow less professional because they were in it for the money.

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Specializes in CT ,ICU,CCU,Tele,ED,Hospice.

yes psych nurses are real nurses .i can't imagine myself being one fulltime .i think it takes a special person.i see enough pts with psych problems being in the er .thats enough for me.we as nurses need to stand together and stop this what is a real nurse thing .it only divides us further.

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Specializes in Peds.

Hi,

Anybody who even remotely "doubts" the "realness" of psych nurses should have a simple chat with one of our administrators - Thunderwolf.

Thanks,

Matthew

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Specializes in ELDERLY CARE.

The comment by the nurse tutor who said psyche nurses are not real nurses shows her age I guess,her prejudice and how little knowledge she has of the skills involved. How much time did she spend in her training in psychiatric studies? Did she ever teach psychiatric nurses? She probably never went near a psyche unit and therefore has no right to speak with any authority on the subject.

We all take real listening and caring so much for granted that we can easily miss its value and accept its glaring lack in general nursing at times to our patients huge disadvantage. Hence the phrase "only talking to pts and doing nothing".

The seperation of psyche nursing and general nursing in training has to change.Both need each other. Here in the UK Project 2000 has done something towards acheiving that and I recognise differences in the nurses coming through who have been taught the value of listening skills etc .

A trained as a general nurse and enjoyed it but I grew up when I went into psyche nursing .

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This post falls into the same category as:

-ADNs are not real nurses

-LPNs are not real nurses

-BSN's are better suited to be nurses than

-My dad can beat up your dad

The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right. ~Mark Twain

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Specializes in MR Peds, geris, psych, DON,ADON,SSD.
:twocents: :twocents: I've been a nurse 22 years now. worked in skilled pediatric nursing facility with trachs and g-tubes with profound mentally and physically challenged children and young adults (total care), as a floor nurse and as a supervisor, and ADON and DON in the same place 15 years. Have worked with Geriatrics, skilled, assisted living and memory care unit in the same building (actually started the nursing facility from the ground up) home health care with a child. AND now for the past 2 years I have been a Psych nurse. I love this job as I have loved other jobs. I can tell you that I am more exhausted at the end of the day working with psych patients than I ever was in ANY of my other positions (including DON). I believe just because my job doesnt require me to start IVs, or do personal care or even pass meds. I AM A REAL NURSE!!!!now as much as ever!!
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I've heard this twice this week and being a psych nurse, it's very annoying.

Do you nurses in traditional fields feel this way about psych nurses too? Please be candid, I would just really like to know. Thanks!

I worked as a psych nurse for years and got all the looks that they give the psych pts. It was aleays joked that psych nurses knew nothing. To make a long story short, I transferred to an acute surgical area a couple of years ago and realized that psych pts are everywhere. I'm glad for my psych experience. I am better able to take care of my pts from a holistic approach. The other nurses on the floor realize that I am just as knowledgable as they are in med-surg but I also have psych background that they have come to appreciate

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the psych emergency which is completely separate from us they have their own aids and RN's yet they had a patient who needed blood sugars every hour and 2 EKGS and instead of doing it themselves they pulled our aide saying they don't do fingersticks or EKG's. ALso as soon as we had an open bed they transfered the patient to us. We all went through the training and have to prove competence every year. RN's do EKG's and finger sticks in the ED. You wonder why they get this rep

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the psych emergency which is completely separate from us they have their own aids and RN's yet they had a patient who needed blood sugars every hour and 2 EKGS and instead of doing it themselves they pulled our aide saying they don't do fingersticks or EKG's. ALso as soon as we had an open bed they transfered the patient to us. We all went through the training and have to prove competence every year. RN's do EKG's and finger sticks in the ED. You wonder why they get this rep

One situation in one hospital does not a generalization make.

Furthermore....I would rather a nurse ASK for help (yes, if it seems 'simple') rather than dash on full bore and potentially either harm a pt or royally screw up a lab. We ARE supposed to support each other, correct? And, I wonder how many times a psych nurse has been called to consult on your floor when some patient keeps ripping their gown off, ambulating down the hall and hallucinating? Let's respect each others strengths.

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