What is it like Being a Psychiatric Nurse?
Becoming a psychiatric nurse can be a fulfilling, enjoyable career move. Few people outside of the mental health field, though, have first-hand knowledge of the job. After getting a great education by earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing (BSN), you can chart a course for the field of psychiatric nursing and give back to some of our most vulnerable community members. No one says the work is easy; it is, though, very rewarding.
A Night in the Life of a Psychiatric Nurse
As with all nursing, shifts vary based on need at the hospital, rehabilitation facility or psychiatric center where you could be working. Suppose you are on the 3-11 evening shift (the other shifts on that cycle would be 11 p.m.-7 a.m. and 7 a.m.-3 p.m.). You will probably have two rounds of medications, caring for some 10 patients. You will have charts to monitor, assessments to make, and new patients to admit.
Avoiding being overwhelmed by the paperwork, you have to keep the patients as a priority. Your assessment as you move around is to see if any patients in your care have emergencies:
- Suicidal thoughts
- Anxiety
- Hallucinations
- Detoxifying
- Medical interactions or allergies
Additional issues with psychiatric nursing include pain management, helping disoriented patients find simple things (“Have you seen my socks?”) and complex answers (“Why am I always depressed?”).
The work is often fast-paced. Yet you are the human face, the compassionate soul who softens the doctors’ hard edges. Though you may split your time among 10 psychiatric patients, for each one you are their lifeline to the outside world and often become the center of their limited sphere.
Psychiatric Nurses' Duties
Activities of daily living (ADLs) are the typical things capable adults (and most children) perform every day:
- Eating
- Bathing
- Dressing
- Toileting
- Transferring (walking)
- Continence
In nursing homes and post-surgical hospital floors, the nurses have to clean up after patients, assist with these ADLs, clean their patients, and do it all with a smile. By contrast, most psychiatric patients can perform these ADLs by themselves, making the psychiatric nurse’s job easier than an RN on a typical hospital floor in at least this one area.
The American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA) offers a page of testimonials from psychiatric-mental health nurses (PMHN) who find the job very rewarding. Here is one such moment:
When I was approached by a patient after 19 years at another facility. The patient remembered my name and thanked me for being a good nurse. The patient made my day.
—Rachel McBride, RN, MSN
It Pays to Protect: Psychiatric Nurse Salary
As a protector of these vulnerable patients, you are richly rewarded for your hard work by the prestige your job brings and the pay. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) places registered nurses—which includes those with Associate degrees, diplomas, and Bachelor of Science degrees—far above the national pay average:
- Median annual wage, May 2015, all occupations—$36,200
- Median annual wage, May 2015, registered nurses—$67,490
The more education a nurse has, the higher on the pay scale they will climb. A nurse with a BSN generally earns more than a nurse with a diploma. The top 10 percent of registered nurses, says the BLS, earned more than $101,630.
Psychiatric nurses, like all registered nurses, will see continued rise in employment opportunities. The BLS predicts 16 percent job growth through 2024, more than twice the national rate. This is because an aging population will need nurses to deal with chronic issues, including mental health challenges:
- Dementia
- Diabetes
- Alzheimer’s
- Obesity
- Addictions
Relationships with Doctors
Many outside the medical profession hear tales of the disrespect doctors show nurses. This may have been true at one time, but then again, at one time doctors made house calls. Today’s psychiatric nurses wield and enjoy power, not just over patients but in their work with doctors. Hospitals, after all, were invented to provide nursing.
Most psychiatric nurses will work with a psychiatrist. This skilled professional is first a medical doctor, and then completes further education to become a mental health professional. Psychiatrists value nurses for their ability to carry out the doctors' orders and protect the doctors' patients around the clock.
Education Requirements for Psychiatric Nurses
A psychiatric nurse specializes in the field by first becoming something more than an RN. An effective way to increase your opportunities and capitalize on your education as an RN is to enroll in a program to obtain your Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing (BSN). With your BSN you can explore more opportunities, including psychiatric nursing, and tap into higher pay. Attend ECPI University’s innovative RN to BSN program and dedicated students could earn their BSN in as little as 45 weeks. If you are ready to move to the next step in your nursing career, contact ECPI University today to discuss your options.
It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!
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Gainful Employment Information – RN to BSN - Bachelor’s
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