UGH! I Hate Psychiatric Nursing ....

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Specializes in ICU / PCU / Telemetry / Oncology.

Not loving my psych nursing lecture OR clinical at all! It's by far my most uninteresting nursing course to date. I am so not ever going to go into psych nursing. Unfortunately I must somehow master its concepts as it is on NCLEX. This specialty is just not for me ... I prefer working with meds, IV's and wearing scrubs.

Just wondering if anyone else feels like me, misery loves company :D ...

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I have volunteered on a locked ward in a well-known psychiatric hospital in NY and absolutely LOVE it! Different strokes for different folks (trite, I know). You'll get through it...we all cannot love the same things or be good at everything. Your rotation will be over soon and you can focus further on what suits you best!

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Actually - I'm doing my psych. clinical now and I feel the complete opposite of you. I love it. I love the danger, the stories, the patients and the people who work with them. I'm convinced that if I don't go psych., I'm going to be in the ED...but I want to go psych. so badly.

Either way, like the poster above said, different strokes for different folks.

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Specializes in Post Anesthesia.

I don't care if you work ICL, L&D or Psyc- you are going find a lot of your patients are nuttier than a fruitcake wherever they are admitted. People with severe psyc problems can develop a hot gall bladder just like the rest of us. The skills you gain in this rotation will be more valuable to you than you think now- pay attention. I hated psyc too- I still do after 25yrs in critical care- but I still have plenty of psyc patients.

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All nursing is psych nursing. Until you grasp this, your communication will not be therapeutic.

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Specializes in Psych.

My only piece of advise is never say never. While in school I worked on a psych floor as an aide. I said I did not want remain on psych but start out on med/surg. 3 months after passing NCLEX and 80 applications in, guess where I am working. Yep, psych.

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Love it so far. There is such a strong mind-body connection to health; if you throw in some peds, then I've found my niche.

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Specializes in ICU / PCU / Telemetry / Oncology.

Of course I am aware that psychiatric concepts will transcend any nursing area, it would be uncouth of me to even assume I can avoid it in nursing ... I just don't want to dedicate my entire career to that specialty. Ironic as it is, my first BA was in psychology ... :rolleyes:

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Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Flight.

def. wasnt my favorite rotation, but there are tools i aquired from theory/clinical that i use for my other rotations...

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I love Psych, my plan is to do psych nursing after I finish school. However, I do understand. To put it mildy, Pediatrics was my least favorite rotation. I am so glad its over. I still have a few weeks of Peds lecture to go and I find that I don't have the same drive to study for it as I've had for other classes. We all have our likes and dislikes. But like others have mentioned, I have to just try to get the most out of it. After all, children have psych issues too. But I totally get where you are coming from. It can be a drag getting through those rotations that you don't really enjoy as much as the others.

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We didn't have clinicals, but I really liked the lecture and made an A in it. I noticed most others in the class did not though. I had abnormal psychology back when I received my first degree several years ago, and although I made an A in it I thought it was boring.

I think the difference for me and the mental health/psych nursing class is that I've spent so long dealing with people in law enforcement is that I saw a practical application for everything the book and teacher mentioned. It wasn't just hocus pocus like a lot of classes are. Over time, experience had taught me many of the things the teacher was telling, but it was fun. I'd work in a psych environment. Heck, just in the last two hours I talked down a 17 year old wanting to kill himself and then dealth with a 14 year old diagnosed with O.D.D. who was fighting with his mother. Typical day in the neighborhood - nursing or not.

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yeah I wasn't a fan of it either. The theory/lecture is interesting, but this area is not for me. What i took away from the class is how to interview patients and what not to say. Maybe its just me but I felt that the staff and MD's during this rotation were super nice. Almost like they are trying to get any student to join this speciality

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