How to work as a psychiatric nurse?!
Question: How to work as a psychiatric nurse!?
what qualifications do you need to have, and how long is the training!? Any other information would be great xxWww@Answer-Health@Com
Answers:
Unfortunately you need the same training as any other RN or LPN!. Which is good if you don't know if you can handle it & you won't until you do it!.But if your experienced & have tried other types of nursing settings,I feel they should go back to the old system of Hospital trained RN's!.The ones I worked with in med-surg were far superior to the ones with 4 year degrees!.The hospital trained nurses knew what to do,patient care, procedures,medications & just about everything else!.The ones with Batcholors degrees knew WHY some thing had to be done, but not how to do it!.They always had to look things up,giving meds would take them all day!.
State Psychiatric hospitals used to have their own programs!.I have been in the nursing field for over 30 years!.I have no intention of ever working in a general hospital,nursing home,doctors office or anyother place other then Psych!.To work as a psych nurse,I would suggest if you are not a nurse get a job as a tech in a psych hospital!.If you are a nurse go to an agency that does psych!.You have to be a real strong person,mentally & at times psychially!.Alot of patients have been in the system for many years & know all the tricks,they just love to either scare new staff,con nurses out of medications they don't need or refuse the ones they do!.Many also have substance abuse problems because alcohol & street drugs is usually cheaper then their medications!.Psych patients are a very varried group,I've seen staff thrown against the wall by a 5 ft tall woman in the late 70's,who was just strolling down the hall!.I've also had to cut a young girl down after she hung herself with her bra she knew exactly when staff would be busy for 5 minutes!.You have to be alert every second & watch for any signs of change in a person!.You have to be able get in the face of someone 6'5" 300 lbs & tell them to go to their room because they are threatening to harm someone & not let them see you praying it's not you!.You never know what will happen from one minute till the next!.I've had my life threatened many times but then again I had someone come in at least once a week claiming to be God!.You have no idea how many different versions of God I have met!.(Who really knows if they had psych hospitals in his day he would have spent some time there) I've also met many people claiming to be celebrities & a lot of people who claim their undercover for the government & actually called the White House,then I had to explain to the real FBI who made the call!.But I love the job & wouldn't do anything else & this is in the community not a prision,that's a whole different ballgame!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
State Psychiatric hospitals used to have their own programs!.I have been in the nursing field for over 30 years!.I have no intention of ever working in a general hospital,nursing home,doctors office or anyother place other then Psych!.To work as a psych nurse,I would suggest if you are not a nurse get a job as a tech in a psych hospital!.If you are a nurse go to an agency that does psych!.You have to be a real strong person,mentally & at times psychially!.Alot of patients have been in the system for many years & know all the tricks,they just love to either scare new staff,con nurses out of medications they don't need or refuse the ones they do!.Many also have substance abuse problems because alcohol & street drugs is usually cheaper then their medications!.Psych patients are a very varried group,I've seen staff thrown against the wall by a 5 ft tall woman in the late 70's,who was just strolling down the hall!.I've also had to cut a young girl down after she hung herself with her bra she knew exactly when staff would be busy for 5 minutes!.You have to be alert every second & watch for any signs of change in a person!.You have to be able get in the face of someone 6'5" 300 lbs & tell them to go to their room because they are threatening to harm someone & not let them see you praying it's not you!.You never know what will happen from one minute till the next!.I've had my life threatened many times but then again I had someone come in at least once a week claiming to be God!.You have no idea how many different versions of God I have met!.(Who really knows if they had psych hospitals in his day he would have spent some time there) I've also met many people claiming to be celebrities & a lot of people who claim their undercover for the government & actually called the White House,then I had to explain to the real FBI who made the call!.But I love the job & wouldn't do anything else & this is in the community not a prision,that's a whole different ballgame!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
be sure that its what you really want to get into!. its a high stress job and sometimes can cause depression!. you will witness some ungodly behavior!. are you emotionally capable of handling people that have maybe hurt others or even hurt themselves!? would finding someone who had just committed suicide bother you!? how do you feel about human excrement!? lol!.!.!.Www@Answer-Health@Com