Why are we as Psych nurses seen as bottom of the barrel?

gnursjr2 · Oct 3, 2011

I've gotten a lot of flack about being a psych RN, from family, neighbors, hair stylist, gym instructor etc. People in general are very frightened by the mentally ill. It is by far "another world" for sure, and you don't really know about it, until you work in the field. I personally love being a psych RN. It is harder to find a job though, in this field, especially in CA. I will tell you I have had numerous RN's tell me they are in Psych because they don't want to deal with "Poop or blood". I have also met many RN's that work in Psych because they can't hang on the med/surg floor any longer, and they tell me is "easy" in psych for them, they are usually the bottom of the barrel psych RN's also, it really bothers me that you have to deal with the bottom of the barrel RNs many times. When I worked at a psych hospital in another state, all of the RNs I worked with had been on "Contract" d/t drug abuse and could not get a job anywhere else, so they wound up at this psych hospital, that would hire just about anyone with a RN behind their name. Sad, but a true story.

Irishpsychintern · Oct 4, 2011

Im as proud as I can be of being a psych nurse.. This idea of "well its not really nursing" is ********. Id like to see a general nurse deal with people on an acute admission unit WITHOUT a "chemical straightjacket". Or help someone deal with awful audio hallucinations WITHOUT drugs....

Psych Nurses ROCK....... the rest are just jealous !!

Ddestiny, BSN, RN · Oct 5, 2011

I'm a nursing student that is going to school specifically to become a Psychiatric Nurse. When asked during the first week of school what specialty we were interested in, I said "Psychiatric/Mental Health" and got gasps from a lot of classmates. I don't know that they necessarily look down on the profession but there are a lot that said that would never do it themselves.

I think that a lot of people don't understand or trust things that they can't see and that they haven't experienced. Look at the stigma surrounding depression even though it is so prevalent in our society. If you think those people are whiners that lack motivation and just need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, then it makes sense that you would look down on the people that treat/"coddle" them.

Luckily we know better, and slowly society has been waking up to the importance of mental health. It's not where it should be, but it's better. It wasn't long ago that no one had ever heard of PTSD, now there are whole military training courses dedicated to it for a population that, historically, was never supposed to show emotion or weakness.

Maybe mental health will never get the recognition that it deserves, but you know when you've made an impact on someone's life. :)

aloevera · Oct 5, 2011

I'm ashameed to admit I actually was one of those nurses who used to think "oh, so you're depressed, SNAP OUT OF IT!! you are just weak, and want to be taken care of"...........UNTIL.........I took a job on a psych unit as Supervisor (due to my prior adm. exp.) I started working the floors on all units....boy, was I in for a surprise !!! I did a complete turn around in my thinking and have been happily working psych now for 10 years !!!!!!!!!

I love it and would never go back..........

SO, IGNORANCE IS 99% of the lack of respect that we get.....we work hard, harder than I ever did on a med/surg floor..........it is emotionally draining.......

Orca, ADN, ASN, RN · Oct 5, 2011

Where I work there are both psychiatric and medical nurses employed. I have served in both classifications. One thing that does not help the image of the psychiatric nurses is that many have developed a complete aversion - which they openly state - to doing anything even remotely considered to be medically related (such as running an EKG).

Some psych nurses are the victims of their own actions in making themselves less accepted by their more medically-oriented colleagues.

rn/writer, RN · Oct 6, 2011

Psych freaks a lot of people out. Even nurses, who should know better. They don't want any part of it because they either, a) don't have a clue how to manage a patient population that scares them, or, b) think psych issues are bogus and that patients are faking or exaggerating, or, c) a combination of the two.

That's okay. Less competition for psych nurses.

Hold your head up, and remember that you are doing something important. :up:

carolmaccas66, BSN, RN · Oct 6, 2011

Where I work there are both psychiatric and medical nurses employed. I have served in both classifications. One thing that does not help the image of the psychiatric nurses is that many have developed a complete aversion - which they openly state - to doing anything even remotely considered to be medically related (such as running an EKG).
Some psych nurses are the victims of their own actions in making themselves less accepted by their more medically-oriented colleagues.

I'm a BSN RN and I'm studying for my Graduate Diploma in Psych Nursing. I was the only one on two large, busy psych floors the other night who could do an ECG (EKG) - none of the RMHN's could do it, so it's good to have the general nursing experience. Just letting students know do your BSN first, then psych - it will stand u in good stead.

aloevera · Oct 6, 2011

anyone can learn to give a shot, hit a vein, follow the diagram to do an ECG, etc. etc...............but........not anyone can calm a schizophrenic, talk to a labile pt., LISTEN to a heartbreaking story from a 13 yr. old of how her father molested her, etc. etc. etc............

We are unique...............I agree with the post.......good thing, we have less competition for our jobs !!!!!!!!!!!

rn/writer, RN · Oct 7, 2011

I thought of another answer. Why are psych nurses seen as the bottom of the barrel? Because somebody turned the barrel upside down. I used to work psych (and liked it). Can you tell?

MrChicagoRN, RN · Oct 9, 2011

Lots of stigma for a poorly understood phenomena. Mental Illness is largely mood & behavior, not readily demonstrated by blood tests CT scan, etc, do it doesn't seem "real" to some.

In contrast the "hard sciences" of med-surg nursing; the multitude of blood tests, EKGs, Xrays, et al, that allows us to monitor the disease state of heart disease, diabetes, renal & liver disease...

Perhaps we'd get better respect if we had our own "Machine that goes Ping!!!" :clown:

I often use the term Behavioral Health, as it is a more positive term, and indicates not the present pathology, but our end goal. People seem more receptive to this term.

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Oct 9, 2011

Perhaps we'd get better respect if we had our own "Machine that goes Ping!!!"

:yeah:

I think that's what makes psych hard to understand for some. It's not like most other fields where we can give a medication, insert a tube or perform a procedure, and usually see instant results/effects. With the exception of giving someone an Haldol/Ativan cocktail to deescalate someone, it takes longer to see results in psych...and those results aren't always pronounced.

rn/writer, RN · Oct 9, 2011

People think psych patients are all delusional screamers or borderline manipulators or smoldering powder kegs ready to blow if someone says the wrong word, and they want to run screaming. Then there's the fallacy that psych is just a matter of willpower, that these ill-mannered patients would get better if they'd just stop frogging around and their practitioners would stop enabling them. Psych is seen as a dodge for criminals and an excuse for bad behavior. We psych nurses (and former psych nurses) are like Rodney Dangerfield--"we don't get no respect." And yet, if someone starts acting out on a med/surg floor, see how quickly they call for a psych consult and cross their fingers, hoping for a transfer.

I like the term "behavioral health."