Psych nursing is easy

Specialties Psychiatric

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Does anyone else think so? I just started not too long ago so my perception can be wrong but it seems so much easier compared to other nursing specialties. I love that I get to talk to my patients , sit, and eat lunch and go to the bathroom lol. I know it depends on the floor ( I work on just plain adult psych so no substance a users) . Would love to see what others think, thanks.

I would like to try this type of nursing. An suggestions on how to get into the field?

Thanks for any help.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

Why is the title of this thread, "psych nursing is easy"? What do you mean by that?

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.
Why is the title of this thread, "psych nursing is easy"? What do you mean by that?

The OP was unenlightened about psych nursing and just started out. They thought it seemed like a walk in the park compared to what they used to do.

Then OP encountered Axis II patients and saw the light :)

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Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

Thanks for explaining Merriwhen! Is there a thread I missed? Link please! 😀

I will say psych was quite enjoyable to me. I did appreciate the fact that the PT care required very little lifting, my back appreciated that! But psych has its own set of challenges that make up for the "easier" parts!

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Specializes in psychiatric, corrections.

Well, if you consider being cussed out or having a chair swung at you easy.....If somebody on the street dared to lay a finger on me I'd come at them like a spider monkey....But on a unit you can't just punch somebody in the face if they attack you. This doesn't happen often, but sometimes people get violent or is verbally abusive. Not always easy to turn the other cheek.

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Specializes in Psych.

I have worked acute adult psych for 4 years and just switched to child and adolescent a month ago. I started in psych as a new grad. One of the most eye opening things for me was watching an experienced hospital nurse get floated to psych and actually start crying. I realized how scared people are of mental illness. I have also seen residents too scared to talk to a patient alone in the day room or hide in the nurses station. Psych is not for everybody. You can easily pick us out though. I was in target shopping and a teenager who was clearly autistic had a massive outburst with his mother. He was screaming, kicking, and verbally abusive. His mother calmly walked him to the car, while being hit and yelled at, and went home. As I turned around to continue my shopping I realized everyone else was horrified. I was as calm as a cucumber and my husband looked at me like I had two heads. It can take a lot to rattle someone who regularly gets yell at.

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Specializes in Psychiatric.

It depends on the acuity level of the patients.

Also, psych nurses use a unique interpersonal skill set. This skill set cannot be learned in school and many nurses don't have the capability or patience to learn to work with these patients.

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Specializes in Mental Health.

Yes, it's really easy. Perhaps they could train monkeys to replace RN's!! I don't know why I bothered training for 3 years to become registered, complete a master's degree and then be accepted onto a PhD program. Whatever was I thinking??

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Specializes in Mental Health.
The thing to remember about patients with personality disorders is that this is how they are wired. It is not as though medication can cure the problem. This doesn't mean they won't benefit from medications or therapy... Just don't expect medications to work like antidepressants work on depression.

Patients with borderline personality disorder often benefit from DBT. These patients see the world strictly in black or white. DBT helps them realize that it's okay to have some gray.

Meriwhen, An interesting reply. Unfortunately, medication does in fact cure very little if you are to read the literature. Many medications actually cause more problems than they cure. That is probably why there is such high levels of non-adherence within the patient population. If you were forced to take psychoactive medication that caused sexual dysfunction, movement disorders, increased salivation, sedation and a thousand other side-effects, I'm sure that your adherence might be questionable!! Further, antidepressants do not necessarily work to reduce depression. Again, I would advise that you read the literature, rather than base your "facts" on inaccurate pharmaceutical company data, which has been well documented to be inaccurate at best!!

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Jeez way to insult psych nurses. I don't by work psych however I do have dementia patients and can I just point out.. It is NOT EASY to treat people who lose touch with reality, people who are depressed, people who become aggressive or act out! Most of the assessments rely on subjective information which can be harder to obtain, and if the patient is not willing or unable to communicate it's even harder to help them. Not to mention having to restrain chemically and/or physically. In my opinion it is sometimes harder to treat a psych patient than to treat someone with physical illness. Both are hard though.

RESPECT TO PSYCH NURSES.. YOU ARE A SPECIAL BREED OF NURSE ;)

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Also wanna point out that psych PTs are not without medical issues

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.
Meriwhen, An interesting reply. Unfortunately, medication does in fact cure very little if you are to read the literature. Many medications actually cause more problems than they cure. That is probably why there is such high levels of non-adherence within the patient population. If you were forced to take psychoactive medication that caused sexual dysfunction, movement disorders, increased salivation, sedation and a thousand other side-effects, I'm sure that your adherence might be questionable!! Further, antidepressants do not necessarily work to reduce depression. Again, I would advise that you read the literature, rather than base your "facts" on inaccurate pharmaceutical company data, which has been well documented to be inaccurate at best!!

Perhaps you should reread my reply, as the point of it was that medications--psychoactive or otherwise--would not work to cure a personality disorder because of the nature of personality disorders. That was in response to someone writing about working with personality disorder patients.

In fact, nowhere did I write that medications were cures for any psychiatric conditions. Though one can't deny that medications can and do work to alleviate the symptoms of many psych conditions. And we all know that help doesn't necessarily mean cure.

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