? for all of you pysch nurses

I sort of did the same thing. I graduated about 4 years ago and really wanted to get into the CCU at the hospital I had been a tech at - but they had no day shift for me. They asked me to go to med-surg until they had a spot and I HATED med-surg. I always had liked my psych clinicals and have interests in other psych-related stuff (like hypnosis and EFT) and so I tried psych. I've been here 2 years now and I love it. There are even a lot of different jobs within the psych specialty that nurses can perform.

Sometimes you get tired of the Borderline Personality Disorder pts - very needy and many of them try to get a lot of meds from you. This is part of their problem, they have no coping skills. I find these people the most difficult to deal with because its like they've spent their entire life perfecting ways to manipulate people and I really hate to be manipulated personally. That for me is the difficult part - to understand that this is their illness and not something personal. The people I most like to work with are schizophrenics, because they come in completely in outer space and with medication and stabilization become some of the neatest people who really need and benefit from your help.

I work in an acute-care psych hospital that is like a psych ER. We are there most of the time just to stabilize people and get them out of a crisis. Then we can discharge them to other facilities that handle long-term pts or hopefully back to the community to a supportive place.

Anyway, do psych if you think you'd like it! I plan to continue my education and become a psych nurse practitioner so that I can have my own practice and my own patients. I'd like to be able to help people on more of a long-term relationship than is offered in the acute-care setting I'm in not.

HK :welcome:

Do what you love! I have been a psychiatric nurse for twenty years. It has been the most rewarding career ever! I started with med-surg. nursing because that was what was encouraged twenty years ago. I didn't last long there... went right to psychiatric nursing and I've had incredible opportunities. Think outside of the box for where a psych nurse can work. I have published articles, nurse consultant to school systems, worked with a variety of populations of people, and more! follow your dream, your heart, otherwise you won't be happy and that will be the end of nursing for you!

Best Wishes!!

I have been in psych nursing for over 25 years, the time has flown by. I agree, follow your bliss, you won't regret it!! I agree with the previous poster, there are so many opportunities and different areas of psych.

GO FOR IT!

I "tried Psych" over 20 years ago and haven't regretted a day of it.

Why get "stuck" in an area that you don't love?

Much success to you.

I am a new grad as of Sept and have been on orientation since then on a med surg floor. I was in psych all summer and really loved it. MedSurg is nuts, day shift is impossible and I am just wondering if I should just apply to a psych facility? Since I have an interest in it anyway and really dont like med surg. what are your thoughts?

Below is my opinion on this subject.

https://allnurses.com/forums/f46/why-do-one-year-med-surg-nursing-before-going-into-psychiatry-nursing-250677-3.html#post2538575

You constantly hear that you should get at least a year of med surge under your belt. I suppose there is no harm in that - but for me I knew I wanted psych and went right to it. 7 years later and I don't regret it at all. I can't imagine doing med surge full time, so why waste a year?

New Grads hear from others to get at least one year of med surg? Why punish one's self when that isn't what one wants to do? Psych is very interesting. Could be headed that way if there is an opening.

Hello to you all! I have one year experience in med-surg/ortho. I have been looking for a specialty where I have time to spend with my patients-no just pass meds. I want to be able to interact with them and get to know them. I find myself thinking about Psych lately, and by reading several postings, it seems that most Psych nurses are happy and satisfied with their job. I like to talk and counsel people, therefore, I think I might fit right in. My question is, should I take a 7am-3pm position, or 11pm-7am position as a new psych nurse. I want to be able to learn the field as much as possible. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

aflorial,

IMHO, if you are limited to 8 hr shifts for whatever reason, and want to truly interact with patients, I'd recommend the am shift although you might find that you are nearly as busy putting out fires during that shift as you would be on an avg. m/s floor; if you do the pm shift, the whole goal of that shift is to interact with noone other than your colleagues (i. e., you want all your folks to sleep). IMHO, 7p-7a is the perfect shift. Usually it's not nearly as busy as the am shift over the course of the night, but when you pass HS meds you have the opportunity to chat with folks, address concerns, provide a therapeutic ear, etc.

Thank you for your input. Would please break down the abreviation IMHO? I am not sure what it means. I'm sure I will have many new terminology to learn.

in my humble opinion