Worried about mental health senior practicum - need advice

[LiviaLesbia]

Hey everyone,

I'm in my last year of of a BScN program in Canada and unfortunately, my senior practicum will be at an outpatient mental health centre. It's not that I don't think I'll enjoy it, I'm just extremely worried that I won't be learning those coveted skills that are transferrable to other nursing areas and that will help me to get a job in the hospital (my end-goal is to work in Emergency). I'm very scared that finding a job will be much more difficult now, and that once I get one, I will be poorly prepared and will need lots of extra training to make up for my lack of experience in school.

Just looking to see if anybody else had this type of senior placement, and if so, was it difficult finding a job and transitioning back to the hospital? Is there a way for me not to lose the clinical skills I've developed over my last two rotations in med/surg? How can I make the best of this placement?

Thanks!

[verene, MSN]

My first CNA position was in mental health, I later wanted to transition to a hospital job. Having those "soft skills" of the mental health world actually made managers MORE interested in me rather than less. As one manager put it "I can train just about anyone to give a bed bath or feed a patient, trying to teach how to communicate with with a patient who is emotionally distressed is more difficult."

Patients with mental health issues show up in every walk of life and in every specialty of hospital nursing. You may never end up working a true "psych" job, but having those soft skills will help you in other specialties (particularly a place like the ED!). Even though your senior practicum is in a mental health setting it should not at all preclude from getting a med-surg or other positions when you graduate. Look at this as an opportunity to learn, and take what you can from it.

[Nightmaren, BSN, RN]

I know quite a few nurses who started off in mental health and then ended up transitioning to ICU or L&D at other hospitals. They were really quite grateful to have started in mental health because a large part of mental health is therapeutic communication. It's as verene said above -- therapeutic communication shows up no matter what unit you work on! I'm sure you can imagine how important it would be in ICU, L&D, or emergency settings.

Honestly, it may just be the hardest nursing skill to be taught.