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Discussion

from social work to nursing

Hello all,

I have a masters in social work and am looking to become a psychiatric nurse practitioner. I am hoping this will be an opportunity to expand upon my SW background. My concentration in SW school was clinical/mental health and I did well academically. I have SW experience on an inpatient psych unit and a day treatment program. I have also worked as a psychotherapist. Also, in college I worked at a residential tx center for troubled kids and I volunteered on a psych research project and am planning to do this again this coming fall. I volunteer for hospice, as well.

I think this makes me a relatively competitive applicant (but I'm not sure!). There are a few issues. After graduating from SW school I went to law school but around halfway through I developed an illness that precluded my continuing on. This was 2007. I was in treatment on and off for the next several years. When I was ready to enter the job market (I was taking the prereqs at this time) I found it very hard to find a job but have worked as an office manager for the last year.

Anyway, does anyone have any thoughts?

socialwrkr

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    • Featured Replies

    Well the first thing you need to do is get through nursing school and to be honest, many schools are more looking at your pre req grades and enterance exam scores. You will be trained as a generalist in NS, so you are going.to have to go through clinicals in all nursing specialties Usually the psych rotation is not particularly long or a "big deal" as much as med/surg is. Then you will need some time in practice as a psych RN to have the best chance to get into NP school, and your SW experience should be valuable there. A lot of the community based programs like ACT will use both your SW and nursing skills. Good luck, its gonna be a long road ahead, but do-able.

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    • Experts
    Well the first thing you need to do is get through nursing school and to be honest, many schools are more looking at your pre req grades and enterance exam scores. You will be trained as a generalist in NS, so you are going.to have to go through clinicals in all nursing specialties Usually the psych rotation is not particularly long or a "big deal" as much as med/surg is. Then you will need some time in practice as a psych RN to have the best chance to get into NP school, and your SW experience should be valuable there. A lot of the community based programs like ACT will use both your SW and nursing skills. Good luck, its gonna be a long road ahead, but do-able.

    There are also the direct-entry graduate programs that don't require you to go through a traditional nursing program and then apply to graduate school -- they are basically an accelerated BSN and a graduate nursing program mashed together. However, you will still have to be educated (classroom and clinical hours) in all areas of nursing. The US trains and licenses RNs as generalists, and there's no way of getting around that. You will be spending time providing basic nursing care to individuals with all kinds of medical problems and dealing with all kinds of body fluids, personal care, etc, before you get to the point of being a psych NP.

    Best wishes for your journey!

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    • Author

    Thanks for the feedback! I am going to be applying to direct entry programs. Hopefully something will pan out.

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    I would shoot for a direct entry program such as Vanderbilt's where you get the required RN credentials along the way and don't have to stop and work a year or more as a RN. I think you'll be a shoe in for a psych concentration. Good luck to you.

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    I wasnt aware of a whole lot.of direct entry psych no programs. At least not near me. We've got the more somatic direct entry specialties, but not psych :( If we did I would've been chomping at the bit for that.

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    I'm an msw as well and just finished nursing school and an now an RN. I was very lucky to have a great psych rotation and got into a new graduate nurse program on the behavioral health unit. One of my interview questions asked about separating the two skill sets and I'm being hired as a nurse first. My social work background is a great foundation for building my new career, but first kiss must build my nursing skills. Although I have been an msw for twenty something years I'm still a brand new nurse, like everyone else. I have an awful lot to learn. Good luck!

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    • Author

    Thanks for the encouragement! Best of luck in your new position.

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