Wants Out of Psych

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Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.

Dear Nurse Beth,

I graduated from an ABSN program December 2017. For most of nursing school I thought I wanted to do psych, so my volunteer experience and my senior clinical capstone experience were all in psych. I was able to get hired at a small psych hospital for the evening shift

(8 hours) starting May 2018. I've been there almost 3 months and I'm miserable. Mostly because I hate evening shift, but also I've decided I don't want to do psych in-patient and I want to get medical experience.

However, It seems all jobs require medical experience and it is so disheartening to feel stuck in this job that I hate. I am living in NYC, so it is competitive here, especially for new grad programs, and while I am trying to apply to places further out of the city, I am limited by where I can reach on public transportation since I don't own a car.

Do you have any advice on how I can get a medical job when all of my experience has been in psych?

Thank you!!

Dear Wants out of Psych,

It is more difficult to go from narrow to broad in nursing than the other way around. It's good that you have your BSN.

You may be able to find a residency program that would not count your 3 months in psych, which would be your best bet.

If you want to get into MedSurg, you will have to apply with persistence and have a well crafted cover letter and resume.

You may need to re-locate to get your foot in the door, and you may have to consider sub-acute as a stepping stone. Contact your classmates who got jobs, and ask them to put in a good word for you. Activate your network, and let everyone know you are looking for a job.

Best wishes,

Nurse Beth

Author, "Your Last Nursing Class: How to Land Your First Nursing Job"...and your next!

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Specializes in Diabetes, Transplant, CCU, Neurology.

I don't know where you are located, but there are areas in the US that are so short of nurses that I think the only requirement to work is having your BSN, and a heartbeat. Having to move children is hard, but not having a job is even harder. There are places that need nurses. Make yourself mobile.

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