are you guys exhausted after your shift?

Specialties Psychiatric

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I'm currently a med-surg/tele nurse, NOT a new grad. I am always exhausted. I feel like as a floor nurse, I'm pulled in 50 different directions for 12 hours. I'm emotionally exhausted from how rude and demanding some patients and their families can be. I DO 100% detach myself emotionally, but by the end of the day, I'm just done. I talk all day, I move all day, I think all day...I'm just done. I'm physically tired from running every which way to complete a thousand tasks, and I'm mentally tired from just all of it....add in the knowledge I'm expected to have when a doctor wants me to give them my advice on their patient, and put in their orders for them, and call this doctor for them, etc. My BSN doesn't include secretary.

Anyway, is psych nursing like this? I love psych and have a BS in psych and eventually want to go for PMHNP, but I right now, I need to get off the floor and out of M/S. Thank you all for your advice and not judging this burnt out M/S nurse.

I'm always exhausted after a 12 hour shift. After doing three in a row, I sometimes wander what my own name is, what's the date, who the president is? I always know where I am though, so there's one plus (sarcasm)

You are not alone. I have actually found my way home and straight into be before, as chewing dinner would take way too much energy after that one hellacious day. I've done different types of nursing and different length shifts. For me, it's the whole 12 hour thing. Waking up at 5am and getting home after 8 or 9 pm (on a good day) is just to draining for me. Whenever I worked 8 hour shifts, I may have been tired but could usually enjoy the rest of my day. With 12 hours, I'm just trying to allot enough time to sleep between shift one and shift two

Specializes in Psychiatric Nursing.

12 hour shift sound awful. I work as a APRN and when I'm inpatient I work with a lot of staff nurses. I don't think it's as task driven as MedSurg. And depending on the unit there is interdisciplinary collaboration, and nurses opinions and observations are valuable. If you are thinking of being a psych NP, inpatient psychiatric experience would be very helpful. You would learn a lot about diagnoses and management of patients and medications all of which would be very helpful for you as a psych NP.

Specializes in Developmental Disabilites,.

I'm mentally and physically exhausted after 12 hours.

Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
Anyway, is psych nursing like this?

I'm 60 years old and work three MN 12's in a row Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. My wife Belinda, who's a 57 year old Med-Surg RN, works two MN 12's every Saturday and Sunday.

Belinda does much more work than I do. I could not do her job. Gero Psych has its moments, but on the whole, Med-Surg is much more grueling.

Gero Psych has its fair share of medical, so a Nurse who has some background in it doesn't entirely loose their skills.

Good luck to you, zoubisoubisou!

Oh and BTW: To answer your question: No, I'm not exhausted after my shifts. But I do sleep quite well after getting off on Monday, as does Belinda.

Specializes in Psych/Mental Health.

It depends on where you work. I work in an adult inpatient psych unit and I can relate to almost everything you described. It's constantly busy and I get exhausted (more physically than mentally). Even the most experienced and efficient RNs on my floor are stressed. It's a combination of poor staffing and management.

Specializes in ED, Cardiac-step down, tele, med surg.

I have never not been exhausted after a 12-hour shift. 12s are exhausting and especially if you do 3 in a row, which I hate. Even if you get your breaks you'll still be exhausted, unless you are sitting around. If you are up and moving, lifting, pushing, etc. a 12 hour day is going to tire you out.

As a new grad I worked the first 2.5 years on a crazy busy med-surg floor in a hospital that is poorly run in many ways so I know of the exhaustion that you are talking about. I switched to inpatient psych a few months ago and it's better in many, many ways but still is a challenge as we have 1 med nurse for sometimes 23 patients and only 1 other nurse who's charge. The new nurse is the med nurse for about a year until you can be charge so basically you do meds all shift as along with their scheduled meds many psych patients get PRNs a lot and throw in WAS/COWS/CIWAS assessments and having to medicate based on the score, it is very busy. Right now we have a lot of very needy patients on the unit so the past few days has been rough but it isn't that bone-tired feeling from racing around a unit for 12 hours.

I miss parts of med surg and know that I will lose skills so I want to do PRN work but don't think that will happen as I did med-surg in a totally different hospital system so would probably need to have a full 6-8 week orientation and can't leave my current position for it. It's weird as I know I am still a nurse and use some nursing skills in psych but don't feel as much like a nurse as I did before since I probably do 90% less of the things that I did before.

Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
I'm currently a med-surg/tele nurse, NOT a new grad. I am always exhausted. I feel like as a floor nurse, I'm pulled in 50 different directions for 12 hours. I'm emotionally exhausted from how rude and demanding some patients and their families can be. I DO 100% detach myself emotionally, but by the end of the day, I'm just done. I talk all day, I move all day, I think all day...I'm just done. I'm physically tired from running every which way to complete a thousand tasks, and I'm mentally tired from just all of it....add in the knowledge I'm expected to have when a doctor wants me to give them my advice on their patient, and put in their orders for them, and call this doctor for them, etc. My BSN doesn't include secretary.

Anyway, is psych nursing like this? I love psych and have a BS in psych and eventually want to go for PMHNP, but I right now, I need to get off the floor and out of M/S. Thank you all for your advice and not judging this burnt out M/S nurse.

Psych nurse here and love every minute of it. Don't get me wrong it's still very hard work and I hate when I get a new hire who states they came to psych because they were tired of working so hard. It is not necessarily as hard on the body as floor nursing but I have been hit, kicked, spit on and had every many of body solids and fluids thrown at me. I have also been called every name in the book in 7 different languages. Still I work 8 hours shifts and have a great management as well as my own hand picked support team. There is nothing like watching a floridly psychotic patient clear up, stabilize and go out the door. Of course the chronic always come back so you have to get used to that. You will also make less money but it's all about what's important to you.

Hppy

A 12 hour shift is exhausting, but if you enjoy what you do, it shouldn't be incapacitating. Just to make sure you've covered all of your bases, you ought to rule out some sleep disorder like OSA that something as simple as CPAP at night could fix.

Specializes in acutecarefloatpool. BSN/RN/CMSRN. i dabble in pedi.

Actually, I'm pretty wired after a 12 and it takes me a while to settle down. The running around and stress at 5am when everyone wakes up, needing meds and this and that gets me worked up so I can't sleep when I get home. Just last week, I worked my 3rd 12 in a row 7p-7a, then went hiking all day :D. It's nice having the energy to do this, however, it makes me feel pretty crummy afterward.

To answer your question OP, I think you should give it a shot - maybe you could pick up per diem while you work your current job and see how you like it first?

Would you all say that Psych nursing is less stressful/exhausting than say ICU? I am in the market for a new position and both are available. I'm not sure which route to go. I love both critical care and psych. I know that psych RN would be good to have for PMHNP, but what is most important to me is my sanity while I'm in grad school. I want to look forward to going to work, which I do not in my current position.

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