Student Nurse Question

[MissJLG]

Hi, I am just getting ready to start an LPN program and I am really interested in Psychiatric Nursing. I was wondering if I could get a little more information on the subject.

I am personally interested in Psychology, and am considering getting my BA in Psychology later down the road. ( As I already have 60+ credit hours). I would love to work in an inpatient mental health facility, or on the Psychiatric floor at a hospital.

*Are there a lot of LPN in the Psychiatric field? Or is it mostly RN's?

*Are jobs hard to come by in Psychiatric, or the same as any other field? (For LPN's)

*Are there any special requirments? Such as previous experience, additional course work, ect?

*Is the pay comparable of any other nursing field, or is it higher/lower?

Any other genral information you can give about Psychiatric Nursing would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!:)

[Jules A, MSN]

Hi,

It all depends on where you live but if you call recruiters from facilities that interest you I'm sure they could answer your questions. In my area we do utilize LPNs and they do almost exactly the same job as the RNs. My hospital pays a bit higher than the local average for new grads. We aren't required to have any special certifications to start.

Will you be doing a psych rotation while in LPN school? That is a great way to meet the supervisors and get your foot in the door. Good luck.

[deelpn85]

hi there.

I'm a new lvn grad .I just got hired at a mental health facility with no experience.

I had a great resume and cover letter, and gave a clean first impression.( according to the don)

I have no idea how I got the job. I haven't worked as an lvn yet and I never had a psych rotation in school and I even told the don ( director of nursing.)

anything is possible.

good luck to you.

[medsurgrnco, BSN, RN]

I'm a Psych RN who works with quite a few LPNs. There is a higher percentage of LPNs at this job than when I worked as a med/surg RN in hospitals. And some hospitals do not hire LPNs for their medical units, so my guess is there may be more Psych LPN jobs available. Our LPNs do everything that RNs do except for admissions and the RN is always charge. Some LPNs end up doing all the meds if that is how the charge RN makes the assignments.

[aloevera]

in my private psychiatric hospital the LPN's are the med nurses, they also take off dr. orders....they work side by side with the RN's...cannot help you with salary, tho....do not know...I do know that there is a need for them, we seem to be hiring quite frequently....RN's do the admits, discharges, charting, assessing, groups, etc.....(sometimes we can assign a tech to do a group if we are swamped)