1st job offer - psychiatric nursing?

Published Apr 9, 2011

11 Posts

Hi, I'm a new RN. I graduated in December, took my boards on Feb. 23rd and passed. I took a PRN position at a mental health facility in February. I have worked on all of the units so far. Since I am still applying for hospital positions, this is the only job that I have at this time so I schedule myself basically full time and I am never called off. I have discovered I really work well on the child/adolescent unit. This is where I have learned the most. The charge nurse on the unit has taken the time to actually teach me and I am able to do things there on my own. The staff on that unit is amazing, and by far the best teamwork I have seen yet at the facility. I dread the other units because of the lack of teamwork, and the charge nurses unwilling to take the time to teach me anything. So I tend to leave work on the days I'm called over to the other units feeling unsatisfied and stressed out. The past week I have been on the child/adolescent unit and have felt like a REAL nurse, taking report, giving report, admissions, medications, discharges, labs, taking off doctors orders, and so on. I think a lot of it has to do with the amazing staff over there.

Since I'm PRN, I go wherever they need me, so I can't deny working on the other units. During my time on the child/adolescent unit, the DON has offered me a full time position there. Monday through Friday, 3pm to 11pm. These are the hours I work anyway so its not a problem. If I take the position, this gives me insurance (and my husband just lost his job which was where we had insurance, so now we are without, and we have a 3 year old son so we need it), and gives me a gurantee that I will remain on the child/adolescent unit.

Here are my concers and this is where I'm asking for advice. I am not learning skills like you would have in a medical facility (as an example, IVs). Recruiters have told me not to take a full time position in psychiatric nursing because I will be overlooked for any positions at hospitals. I have applied at 4 different hospitals in ALL areas (med surg, emergency, ICU, neuro, etc) and I have not received any of these positions. I apply every time I see a new opening. Recruiters have been telling me that since I do not have my BSN, and no skills, that the BSN graduates are being hired first. If I had skills, I'd have one up on them, but I'm lacking in that department. I have looked into PRN positions at my local hospitals, but they request certifications (such as ACLS, PALS, etc) and offer minimum training (they want you to be experienced).

If I take this position, do you think that I will be overlooked in the future for hospital positions? If I was able to pay for the certifications (which I could later on), would this increase my chances? I don't want to stay in psychiatric nursing full time for the rest of my life, because I would really love to learn more medical skills. We plan on relocating in about 2 years to where the rest of our family lives across the state, so I know I'd be in search of another job in the future. I absolutely LOVE the child/adolescent and I thrive in that environment. I just don't want the rumors to be true for me (once a psych nurse, always a psych nurse) and I'm hoping some of you can share stories that this isn't true. I told the DON to give me one week to decide, and she's fine with that.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated and I apologize for the lengthy post, this is just a big decision for me being my first job out of nursing school!