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!

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.

When we have an out of control patient we are responsible for them ourselves. The only people who come over are the psych resident because the RN does not want an out of control pt in their ED. This place if we have a pt who comes in to the main ED and says they are suicidal and nothing else instead of being able to transfer them to the psych ED if they have any history of any medical issue ie diabetes or HTN, even if they are not having any complaint other then being suicidal, the main ED usually has to bring them in and work them up medically before we can send them to the PES and even then they send the pscyh resident to assess the patient first. This is not a generalization in my ED this is a fact. I have worked with many psych nurses elsewhere including my best friend and this is not the case. What I am saying is the nurses here give people the wrong opinion about psych nursing.

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My suggestion would be rather than harbor a grudge, talk to your nursing supervisor about it....seems a few refresher classes are in order. But again, not all or even most psych nurses fit that profile. I would venture to say that is a small minority.

Btw...I've received super crappy triage service from my ER lately...should I assume all ER nurses are bad eggs? Of course not!

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Specializes in psych,emergency,telemetry,home health.

i am a psych nurse and it really breaks my heart when people would say that we're not real nurses. i believe it depends on the person working in a psych unit. if you do not want to enhance your knowledge,then you just stop learning with your own will. i used to work in er and telemetry and i am back to psychiatry which was my first area post graduation. if i got the chance to do medical stuff(like starting iv's,inserting catheters,reading ekg's,etc), i grab it.i don't want to lose the skills i learned in er and tele.furthermore, the buttomline for nursing is CARE.all of us care for our pts.it may just be on different aspects.i love my patients and i will do everything to make them feel better.

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Specializes in med/surg.

Well all I know is I wouldn't want to be a psyche nurse so kudos to those that do because you never know when you or a family member might need one!

Don't take stupid comments that like to heart - she'd better hope she never needs your care!! We all have a role to play in the big wide world of healthcare & no-one's role is less important than anothers!

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Specializes in Emergency Room.

i think it's sad when professions try to minimize your worthiness because you may choose a specialty that's not stressful/crazy busy. i have a friend that is a medical resident and she chooses to be a dermatologist. she gets flack from her peers all the time because the rest of them are going to be surgeons/ortho/ED physicians. she told me she wants a normal life, no holidays/on call and she truly likes derm (she is obsessed with perfect skin). i say do what you want to do. who are we to judge. i totally think psych nurses are "real" nurses. you don't have to run around crazy like i do in the ED to be considered a real nurse. good luck.

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Specializes in orthopaedics.

I am on my way to being an RN and in the middle of my psych rotation. It takes a "special" talent to be a psych nurse as it does for any specialty. Any of us could say a school nurse isn't a real nurse, a whatever nurse isn't a real nurse. It takes a special gift a calling really to be a psych nurse. I don't have the patience nor the guts to do it. Bless you for your compassion and fighting for those who can not.

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i think it's sad when professions try to minimize your worthiness because you may choose a specialty that's not stressful/crazy busy......... you don't have to run around crazy like i do in the ED to be considered a real nurse. good luck.

Lol....too bad you couldn't have followed me this weekend. I was glad to sit down when I got home. Yes, it was stressful/crazy busy.

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My suggestion would be rather than harbor a grudge, talk to your nursing supervisor about it....seems a few refresher classes are in order. But again, not all or even most psych nurses fit that profile. I would venture to say that is a small minority.

Btw...I've received super crappy triage service from my ER lately...should I assume all ER nurses are bad eggs? Of course not!

Please refer back. I did NOT say ALL psych ED nurses only the ones in my psych ED REFUSE to do anything medical. As I said they do not need retraining they know how, they have to do a competency test every year. If I follow your thought process when I have a psych pt, I should not talk to them or calm them down or put them in restraints or chemically sedate them, I should call the ED psych nurse and tell her to do it for me as I am not a psych nurse Of course not.. As for report from the Psych ED, It is nonexistant, it is a doctor to doctor report only. We are supposed to be a team but we are separate units no different from med floor and the telemetry floor they have their own aides as well. If they want our help it has to be two way flow in this case it is not. I am not gripping I am just giving the facts. This is not the same for all psych nurses in many of the places I have been

You can't pick and choose what you are going to do you have a patient who usually has medical hx like diabetes or hypertension as most inpts with mental illness do not take care of themselves, they either drink do drugs or not eat well. You do what needs to be done.

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I worked PRN for 6 months at our hospitals psych dept. - not for me!! I was amazed at how professional and skilled the full-time nurses were! Nope, decided I'd rather have the cardiac and vent patients.

As long as you have LPN or RN after your name, you're a real nurse.

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Specializes in ICU, CCU, Trauma, neuro, Geriatrics.

Umm, well lets toss an ICU nurse in a psych unit for a few hours...we can assess that an ICU nurse is not a psych nurse. A psych nurse is a nurse with a specialty and some have many experiences. I would die for a psych nurse on my unit at times, I would assist him/her with all their telemetry needs if they would just make my crazy patient settle down.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
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!

As an LPN, I was told that I was not a real nurse, either. And, to boot, I just received my license this June, and was assigned to work in a clinic (after doing 6 weeks orientation in med-surg for the hospital to look good), and that was double the damage, so to speak. I was told that I was not really going to be a seasoned nurse becaue I didn't start off in med surg and 'pay my dues'.

What I can say is that there may be a chance that you may lose some basic skills, but to say that you are not a real nurse is an insult. At first, I did not feel validated as a nurse, not because I am an LPN, but because I can admit that I can lose my skills if I am not careful. Just to keep myself in the mix in case I have to search for a job, I decided to try and get overtime in the med-surg unit at the hospital I work at, but I KNOW that I am as much as a nurse as my senior collagues, RNs and those that did begin by working the wards.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
i think it's sad when professions try to minimize your worthiness because you may choose a specialty that's not stressful/crazy busy. i have a friend that is a medical resident and she chooses to be a dermatologist. she gets flack from her peers all the time because the rest of them are going to be surgeons/ortho/ED physicians. she told me she wants a normal life, no holidays/on call and she truly likes derm (she is obsessed with perfect skin). i say do what you want to do. who are we to judge. i totally think psych nurses are "real" nurses. you don't have to run around crazy like i do in the ED to be considered a real nurse. good luck.

I can identify with wanting a normal life. Just because we have decided to enter into the health profession does not mean that we have to always be slaves to the public. I work in a clinic and I was told that I was not a real nurse, either, and I am an LPN to boot, so, I have been told that I am not a nurse because I'm not an RN. Yes, I do not have all of the educational background as the RN, but yes, I am a nurse that happens to work in the clinic. And, believe me, I worked in psych (as an aide)...it is NOT as cushioney as people perceive.

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