Transferring from Psych to Medsurg

[babaloo, BSN]

Hello! I am a registered nurse working in the acute psychiatry unit. I have been working in inpatient mental health now for 1.5 years. I started off as a new grad nurse in psychiatry in June 2014. I chose to begin my nursing career in psychiatry because I decided to follow my passion for mental health. However, as time went by I realized that I really want and need the medical foundation a new grad nurse typically gains in med-surg so that I can be the best nurse I can for both my patients and the facility. I've gained a lot of characteristic (as opposed to hands on technical) foundational skills in my first 1.5 years of nursing in mental health. I work both as a staff RN and charge nurse on my unit and this first 1.5 years of nursing I've gained skills including prioritization, using the nursing process to assess patients and mangage the entire milieu, delegation, communication skills, and collaborating with the interdisciplinary treatment team. Now I am ready to move forward in my nursing career and provide more intensive physical care for my patients. I know that the skills I gained in mental health I will take wherever I go, especially in my facility where I work with veterans. So many veterans not only have physical health issues, but also mental (PTSD a big one). I am hoping to transfer units within my hospital from inpatient acute psychiatry to medsurg.

I would appreciate any tips for a fairly new nurse as myself in transferring from mental health to medsurg, including tips for cover letter writing. I already know that my weakness is in the hands on skills that are more used in medsurg (example inserting IVs), but I believe in myself and that I can gain the skills back with practice. I've been told by previous instructors that it is difficult to switch from psych to another department. I would appreciate any tips on what I should emphasize to medsurg to show that I would be a good fit even though I've only worked in mental health so far.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I responded to a similar thread, so forgive the mostly cut and paste :)

Given the job market, it's tough for a lot of people to switch specialties, and not just those of us in psych. There's too many experienced nurses looking for work, so employers are more likely to choose the person with experience and so requiring minimal training, than putting the time and money into training someone new to the specialty. Search the forum and you can see posts lamenting such in nearly every specialty.

Look internally to see if there are options for you to switch areas. Some facilities offer residency/training programs for experienced nurses interested in trying something new. Try networking with managers/recruiters and let them know you are interested--they may be able to help you with finding something. Look at positions at smaller/rural facilities, who may be more willing to take a chance on you.

Apply for psych-medical or geropsych positions as both of those are heavier on the medical nursing side. Also, psych-medical counts for actual acute care medical experience because these are patients that are more medically unstable and require skilled nursing care. You can also try looking for a LTAC position.

Or you could consider a training or refresher course through your local college.

And there's going to be some homework's going to be involved on your part...because unless you land in a residency or training program, you are going to have to learn new things on the fly.

And don't sell yourself short. The fact that you were in psych doesn't mean you haven't used any of your medical nursing knowledge. After all, you still address your psych patients' medical issues when planning your care, right? And you still should be performing physical assessments and managing non-psych meds and treatments for your patients...maybe not to the detailed extent as you would on a M/S floor, but you're not just handing them some Prozac and telling them to go to group, right?

Best of luck!