Should I do a psych rotation?

Nurses General Nursing

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I am a fisrt year student, and my goal is to do ER or pediatrics and I currently work in an ER as a tech. My school is giving us the option for next term to go to the state psych hosptial or do a med-surg rotation for clinicals.

My inital feeling is I don't want to go because I dont want to be a psych nurse, but because I want to work ED I feel that mabey I should go because at least 1/3 of our pts in the ED are for psych.

I think that the psych rotaion would only be for three weeks and then three weeks for med.

I am concerned about if I will get to practice enogh clincial skills during the psych rotation, as my last clinical experience the most that we got to do other than ADLS was passing PO meds and I guess that I am worried that psych might be similar to LTC in terms of the amount of skills that I would be learing.

I dreaded my Psych rotation, but once I got there, I really enjoyed it. One does learn better communication techniques and how to build a better relationship with your patients. Psych patients are EVERYWHERE, so your training will be of use.

Specializes in Pediatrics.

Thank you all for youe replies and I decided that I will do the rotation.

Specializes in Psychiatric.

Obviously I say go for it (I have dedicated my career to psych! lol)!!! Seriously, psych and med-surg go hand in hand...they're the two specialties you'll never get away from, so to speak...the mind will not be healthy without a healthy body and vice versa...you will always have med/surg patients who have psych issues, and you will always have psych patients who have medical issues. Also, often in a hospital the ER is THE very first point of contact between a psych patient and help, so the better you are at communicating, the faster your patient can get the help s/he needs.

I say go for it and have a BLAST!!!:D

Specializes in Operating Room.

Another vote in favor of the psych rotation..you will see psych patients in EVERY specialty. We get plenty in the OR and the things I learned in my psych rotation have served me well. Most people are nervous about surgery anyway, and if they have psych issues on board, it can be challenging.

Plus, you may find some of the skills you pick up in psych nursing will be useful for dealing with some docs and coworkers later on!:lol2:;)

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