how will my old major help?

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I got my BS in psychology, I went into this major because I absolutly love this area of study. Unfortunatly I can not find a job so I have decided to go back to school and get an RN. I'm planning on going into psych nursing and was wondering if and how my BS degree will benifit me?

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When I worked in psych nursing I had an associate degree and was a RN. The patient care attendents had masters degrees in psychology and essentially were the equivalent of a CNA in the med/surg hospital and they made what a CNA makes. The field is saturated with psychology majors and no real jobs for them. The hospital was begging for RNs so I applaud your decision to pursue nursing.

I think your degree will help you quite a bit once you get into the workplace. The nursing degree will provide a general knowledge base for you with psych as one of several rotations. Your psych major will provide you with an educational edge that your nurse colleagues will not have. The experienced psych RN will have the skill needed to be successful due to on-the-job experience. As far as the course work helping you, you have to meet all of the prerequisite requirements of the school of nursing. If your degree satisfies those then great, if not, you will be taking more prerequisites. Good luck. It is a great field and you should do just fine. Good psych nurses are hard to find. Once you receive your RN and start working, I encourage you to pursue the psych certification and the addictions nursing certification. Great credentials to have.

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You've made a very good decision and frankly your RN may get your foot in the door and give you access to information of jobs available for your BS in Psychology. Also: your new perspective may give you a two way view. You will now know what you are

suggesting to the nursing staff may not be the best way to go with treatment when you see techniques or modes of treatment that do not work. You will also learn to individualize treatment plans because you realize that one treatment modality will not work for all patients. Good luck with your nursing education but always keep your eye open for opportunities in your original field--which you must have loved or wanted to do enough to invest the time to get your BS--Lauren

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Specializes in Psych, Informatics, Biostatistics.

It will help. I have a degree in Psychology/Sociology as well. First nursing registration was Registered Psychiatric Nurse from Alberta. I was a registered nurse prior to becoming an RN.

Once you have your RN you can always fall back on it no matter what you do with it. I am returning to the floor as a plain psych nurse after 9 years of Informatics/Programming. Wages are actually better as a plain nurse than as a dually qualified nurse programmer/informatics professional. Planning on spending the next 6 months refreshing my nursing skills. Not sure where I will go from there. One thing that does interest me is Epidemiology/Public Health.

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I also obtained my BS in Psychology before entering nursing school, but I knew I wanted to go into psych nursing before entering. I think having that background will help you in whatever area of nursing you choose, as well as help you get through school. Psychology is a broad field that helps you deal with people every single day. Good luck!

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I have my BA in psych & had non-related psych positions for about 5 yrs before deciding to get my RN (did an ADN). I think it could help you in getting into a psych RN job quicker (possibly) & also in pursuing an advanced degree in nursing (you could skip the whole BSN part).

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Specializes in Critical Care, Cardiothoracics, VADs.

Not to mention, you should be able to enrol in an accelerated BSN program if that's what you want as you have a previous BS.

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