Switching from Med-Surg to Psych?

[j_tay1981]

Hey all!

I am an RN, BSN that has been working just shy of two years in med-surg at a level-one trauma center/teaching hospital. First I was in Neurological Sciences, and currently I am in Orthopedics (different floors). I had a rough time getting started as an RN out of school; adjusting to the fast pace, constant multitasking, and dealing with the general feeling of 'What the hell am I doing?' that comes with being a newer nurse. I feel like I'm in a better place than I was even a few months ago as a nurse. I have less anxiety, and a better sense of what I'm doing.

But I still feel like something is lacking - namely interest in my job.

I went into nursing to become a MH nurse practitioner, mainly due to my own personal experiences with mental health issues. I did well in my psych rotation at school, and have also had the dubious honor of spending a week at an inpatient facility as a patient as well (self-checked in, FWIW).

I did med-surg right out of school because I'd heard it was a good foundation specialty upon which you could go many other places. But now I'm thinking about psych nursing again. I'm not new to psych patients; I've worked with detoxers, addicts, MDD, severe anxiety sufferers, schizophrenics, BP's - you name it. But I've only worked with them on a med-surg level, not psych specific.

In short, though, I'm nervous about leaving med-surg and taking on something almost totally new. I'm also concerned about not liking it - I'm okay with not caring about ortho, but if psych was an initial career goal and I hate it, I'd feel stuck. There are no crystal balls or guarantees in life, but still...the devil you know is better than the devil you don't.

What are the biggest differences? VS are taken less, and med passes weren't as frequent as they are on my two floors from what I recall.

What should I be prepared for? What advice do you all have for me?

[PG2018]

I run the intake unit for a night shift at a mental hospital which leaves me doing nothing four out of five nights. I roam around from time to time and see what's going on in the patient units, and although the psych stuff is interesting (I'm in a PMHNP program) I want no part of managing the milieu. There are too many people roaming around, standing around the nurse's desk, wanting things, eavesdropping, asking to use the phones, trying to "bum a smoke," etc. I like talking individually with patients and am at peace seated in my quiet intake office, lol. To summarize, the unit is dynamic and interesting but only to me as an outsider looking in. I'd whig out working back there. In a prior life, I was around crises and emergencies of sort all the time, and it didn't bother me. Lots of folks asking for stuff on the other hand....EEK!

That's why I only lasted a year in med-surg. When I started looking for a way to mute the buzzer on it I knew it was time to go.