Psychiatric Nursing

**heather70** · 11-09-2007, 10:59 AM

It's nursing at it's best I must say! People are wonderful and interesting in every way. They laugh, cry, and teach you more than any text book ever could. I've done the med-surg thing, ICU thing, long term care, etc.. I've been a nurse for some time now, and nothing interests me more than the human soul. It was easy for me to hang IV's, do dialysis and everything in between, but nothing touches me more when I can help, love, nurture, teach, gain trust, help a fellow human being rebuild a dreadful and hopeless life that they probable have lived in for quite some time. I give all I can give of myself as a registered professional nurse. I treat them with the dignity and respect they deserve. Psychiatric nursing is nursing at it's "best", it brings us back to the "bedside", where WE care for the patient. Of course the doctors see the patients for 10-15 minutes, and prescribe the meds, but we educate and bring alive the wonderous human soul!! All people are good. Consider being a Psych nurse! It is an enlitening and most fulfilling experience anyone could ever have. I've wanted to be a nurse since I was seven years old. I have chosen the best profession. Heather Zimmerman RN

**PWhite** · 11-09-2007, 01:25 PM

I absolutely love the Psych Nurses we have on our team in my home health agency!!
As a Med-Surg RN, I call for their skills and intervention frequently and they always come through.

**sempre** · 11-11-2007, 12:12 PM

Hi, every one member of this forum. i am a new member. i am happy to be with u. Thanks Mr/s, Heather for ur valuable information. Can anyone give advice on : Having BA psychology, which one is easier either to study Master of science in Nursing or RN Psychiatric Nurse. And which one has high job opportunity, RN Psychiatric nurse or Masters of science in Psychiatric Nursing? Are they the same? Your reply is highly appreciated.

**stella blue** · 11-12-2007, 06:45 AM

Heather-what a great post. It's nice to see someone this enthusiastic about their job. I am also a psychiatric nurse but not at the bedside. I manage an outpatient medication clinic. This isn't what I wanted to do when I graduated nursing school, in fact, I hated my psych rotation. I answered an add for someone with public health experience to work with geriatric patients. I did outreach to geriatric patients with depression, dementia, etc. From there my love of psych nursing has grown and so has my job. Thanks for your post.
Sempre-do you have psychiatric nursing experience? I would get some experience before trying any of the above.

**sempre** · 11-12-2007, 11:23 AM

Thank u for ur interest Dear Stella blue. I donot have psychiatric experience. But i do have practicum courses experience on counseling and student counseling seven years experience. Please share me ur experiences on psychiatric nurses before i decide to join it. Any advice on the posted topic is highly appreciated. Welcome Thanks

**stella blue** · 11-13-2007, 02:56 AM

Experience with psychiatric nursing varies with the setting. I would suggest someone with no experience start in an inpatient setting. Your med-surg experience is also important. Inpatient varies depending on your patient population. I work in an area with a high concentration of seriously mentally ill individuals. Where you find mental illness you also find substance abuse so be prepared to deal with both. Our patients run the gamut of being depressed to being floridly psychotic. There is always the threat of personal injury so we are always alert to signs of violence.
We've had some APN students working with our APN and many of them don't have psychiatric experience. I think they see themselves sitting in a private practice doing therapy and prescribing meds. From what I've seen so far these nurses have not been successful because of their lack of experience.

**dilipv** · 12-05-2007, 02:32 AM

hi sempre ,
i read your quote so i thought that i could help you out.you have mentioned about the experence of Psychiatric nursing, i tried to search through the net about Psychiatric nursing and found the results just check this url where it's mentioned about the institution of nursing and even the vacancies. so here you could find the both vacacies as well as the course . or you may search through net through google or yahoo or any search engine . type Psychiatric Nursing course or experience,university,vacancies etc. this will satisfy your thirst.http://www.stah.org/en/1/recnur.html
your are always welcome your views and replies.

Thank you.
Mental Nurse Jobs
www.nurseryjobsonly.com/article/22