Why are we as Psych nurses seen as bottom of the barrel?

[dreamingofbeing]

I'm just wondering because every time I tell someone that I quit my IVR job to go to children's psych they act appalled. I know it's different but I'm still a nurse. Even my family acts appalled.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

Are you sure they think you're "bottom of the barrel"?

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

I straight-out said that I went to nursing school to do 4 specific things:

1) support myself

2) work with the elderly

3) work with the mentally ill

4) teach CNA class.

Each and every single one of those reasons caused a lot of gasping, chest-clutching and fainting spells....

First, who cares what they think? Also, less competition for you. Not least, they will soon learn to never say "never".

[dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN]

I think psych nurses are highly under-rated. I have never worked psych, but have required numerous admissions to mental health units over the past 11 years and I am so thankful for the psych nurses I have met who have taken the time to listen to me, make sure I get the right meds, made suggestions, and those who just took the time to sit with me when I couldn't stop the tears. I have the utmost respect for them; I have been an RN for over 20 years and one thing I know now is that I could never be a psych nurse. And, having been admitted to mental health as many times as I have, I now have a mission to teach the other staff I work with a thing or two about pts with mental health concerns.

I will forever be grateful that those mental health nurses were there when I needed them. :yelclap:

Similar type of patient. Similar beliefs. I hope you guys (psych nurses) realize how much of an impact you can make. I was told that I would either be dead or institutionalized by the time I was sixteen. And then eighteen. I still remember the nurses that "raised" me/kicked my ass when I needed it/let me be a normal teenaged girl (one of my fondest and probably most "normal" memories was checking out the hot construction workers across the way with the nurse on duty) ---) my moment was actually doing clinicals in the peds psych where I'd spent most of my adolescence ten years ago and the look on certain nurses' faces because, hey, I'd made it. And they'd helped me do it. :)

[BradRN]

I personally feel that when they say psych nurses are "the bottom of the barrell" they are referring to the diminished skills that we quickly lose after nursing school. Many hospitals will not even look at your resume if you havent had critical care experience in the past 5 years. I worked my butt off for years doing telemetry/CICU nursing and the pay was terrible. I've been a psych nurse for the State of Ohio for 8 months now and make more than I ever made running up and down the halls of a traditional hospital with no bathroom breaks and orders spilling out of the charts at all times of the day and night. I work no where near as hard as I did, there is a higher risk of harm where I work, but I'm willing to take that risk. I love being a psych nurse and I will never go back to tele/med-surg/ or CICU! In fact, prior to finding psych nursing I was on my way out of this profession until I found my love!

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I personally feel that when they say psych nurses are "the bottom of the barrell" they are referring to the diminished skills that we quickly lose after nursing school. Many hospitals will not even look at your resume if you havent had critical care experience in the past 5 years.

As my old DON used to tell me, "anyone can learn to put in a tube"...it was not meant as a negative jab against non-psych nurses, but rather as a reminder that should we want/need to, we can easily relearn or refresh these skills. After all, didn't we all learn to manage them once before as nursing students?

I work no where near as hard as I did, there is a higher risk of harm where I work, but I'm willing to take that risk.

I always thought that EDs were far more dangerous than psych units. In psych we are in a secured unit that is locked, we know the histories of our patients (even if all we know is that a patient is unpredictable), patients have weapons and most dangerous articles removed from their possession during admission, visitation from outsiders is strictly controlled, all staff is trained in deescalation, restraint and breaking holds, and a code calls people running in from all over the facility, not just from one team or unit. And most patients know this too and aren't willing to push a lot of boundaries.

Whereas anyone can and usually does walk into a ED with minimal clearance and thinks nothing of exploding at the first staff member they see for any inane reason.

I also think we're safer than most hospital floors too...because we deal with abusive family members a lot less in psych. Got to love our limited visiting hours and conditions :)

[Marshall1]

I don't know what IVR is...but...as far as bottom of the barrel..I have honestly never heard that re: psych nurses...only LTC and ALF nurses - which I do not agree with - but where I live, nurses who work LTC or ALF's are viewed as though they can't get a job elsewhere.....