Psychiatric Specialty Nursing: The Definitive Guide to Psychiatric Jobs | Nursing Specialties (2023)

According to theNational Alliance on Mental Illness(NAMI) One in five adults in the United States suffers from a mental illness each year; One in twenty adults experiences a serious mental illness each year, and one in six adolescents aged six to seventeen experiences a mental disorder each year. In addition, according to Kessler et al (2007), more than 50 percent of people will be affecteddiagnosed with a mental illness or disorderat some point in their life.

Although mostpeople with mental illnessesdoes not require hospitalization, some will eventually need to be hospitalized to be diagnosed, have their medication adjusted, or be monitored during an acute episode. At the moment, psychiatric nurses are at the forefront of patient care. Read on to learn everything you need to know about working as a psychiatric nurse: job description, salary, certifications, and more!

What does Psychiatry mean?

Psych stands for mental health and psychiatric nursing in nursing. According to the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA)mental-psychiatric healthIt is represented by the abbreviation PMH. Other common abbreviations are MH, which stands forMental health, and PNP, which meanspsychiatric nurse.

What does Psych mean in medicine?

Since Psy refers to psychiatric mental health, it encompassesemotional, psychological and social well-being. It also covers how people think, feel, and act, including how they respond to stress, interact with others, and make decisions. Mental health is part of the broader field ofbehavioral health. In fact, these terms are often used interchangeably.

Psychiatry and Mental Health NursesEvaluation, diagnosis, care and treatment of patients with mental illness and substance use disorders. They also promote well-being through education and prevention. These health professionals serve individuals, families, groups and communities in avariety of configurations, the following is included:

• hospitals
• primary care
• community health centers
• Substance use treatment programs
• public health facilities
• Forensic Health Environments
• retirement homes
• clinics
• private practices
• telemedicine
• schools
• Academy

Psychiatric Nursing-Mental Healthmay have different areas of focus, such as child and adolescent mental health, gerontology-psychiatric care, acute care, addiction, forensics, disaster care, and military mental health, among others.

Many different professionals work with these populations andthe role of a psychiatric nursecan sometimes overlap with that of a psychologist, social worker or psychiatrist. For example, both registered nurses and psychiatrists can prescribe medication. In addition, all of these professional groups can offer psychotherapy. However, because psychiatric psychiatric nurses have a nursing degree, the nursing process guides their practice.

What is a psychiatric ward in a hospital?

psychological unitsthey can be found in general hospitals or in private mental hospitals. These units provide 24-hour hospital care; This care is provided by psychiatric nurses and group therapists and is monitored by psychiatrists.

In addition to these psychiatric departments, each state has public psychiatric hospitals that provide short-term and long-term care for low-income people, those in need of long-term care, and forensic patients. In addition, the partial inpatient accommodation offers therapeutic services during the day as a stopover between inpatient admission and discharge. Finally, inpatient care offers 24-hour psychiatric care for children or adolescents or inpatient addiction treatment programs.

individuals canchoose hospitalization, or it can be at the urging of a family member or professional. It can also be the result of an encounter with a first responder such as a paramedic or police officer.

What is the job of a psychiatric nurse?

An important part ofRole of the psychiatric nurseremoves the stigma of mental health care and treatment by educating patients, families, communities and other health professionals.

psychiatric nursespromote mental healthin a variety of ways, including the following:

• Working with children who have experienced traumatic events
• Working with soldiers returning from combat
• Help for older adults with Alzheimer's or dementia
• Help youth and adults living with serious mental illness
• Counseling and treatment for people working to recover from opioid, alcohol or other substance use disorders
• Research and create interventions for people with suicidal thoughts.

What Does a Psychiatric Nurse Do?

Within this role, psychiatric and mental health care workers have many responsibilities that vary by qualification. According to APNA, these are some of theDuties of a psychiatric nurse:

• Help people achieve their recovery goals
• Promotion and maintenance of health.
• Admission, evaluation and sighting tests
• Offer case management
• Teach patients self-care
• Manage and control psychobiological treatment
• Practice crisis intervention and stabilization
• Implementation of rehabilitation and psychiatric intervention.
• Educate patients, families and communities
• coordinated care
• Cooperation with interdisciplinary teams.

“I try to sit or walk with my patients as much as possible to build a relationship and make sure they feel heard. Psychology is a lot of emotional work, so I'm always available to patients to talk about their issues and empower them to use the strategies that work best for them to achieve their wellness goals..."Reddit–u/msblankenship

Next to,PMH Advanced Practice Registered Nurses(APRN) perform the following tasks:

• We offer individual, group, couple and family psychotherapy.
• Prescribing drugs for acute and chronic diseases.
• Comprehensive reviews
• Offer clinical monitoring.
• Diagnosis, treatment and management of chronic or acute diseases
• Offer integrative therapy interventions
• Order, conduct, and interpret laboratory tests and other diagnostic studies
• Offer preventive measures such as health screenings and vaccinations.
• Policy development for programs and systems.
• Make recommendations for health issues that are outside your area of ​​responsibility.
• implementation of procedures

How to become a psychiatric nurse

Individuals interested in psychiatric nursing have several options, including earning bachelor's or master's degrees in science, humanities, and nursing. Licensed practical nurses can also pursue further education, training and certification in mental health and psychiatric nursing.

ABecome a Psychiatric-Mental Health RN, people must follow one of the following paths:

• A two-year associate's degree in a nursing program
• A three-year diploma in a nursing program (usually hospital-based)
• A four-year Bachelor of Nursing (BSN) program at a college or university
• An accelerated BSN program (for those who already have a bachelor's degree in another field)

Regardless of the path chosen, all graduates must pass the National Council Licensing Examination (NCLEX-RN).Get your RN licenses.

In addition, individuals wishing to become psychiatric APRNs must complete a master's or doctoral degree from an accredited PMH nursing program.

Psychiatric Nursing Certification

APNA offers the Transitions in Practice Certificate Program to help nurses make the transitionPractice in a psychiatric setting. It is aimed at the following professionals:

• Registered Nurses who wish to move into Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing
• PMH RNs looking to refresh and update their nursing practice
• RNs who work with people with mental health issues in their current work environment
• Training of nurses mentoring PMH nurses
• Nurses hiring PMH nurses

The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) also offersCertification options for RN and APRN. RNs may earn the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse - Board Certified™ (PMH-BC™) credential, and APRNs may earn the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Certification (PMHNP-BC™), formerly the Family Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Certification.

The following are the eligibility requirements for the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse – Board Certified qualification:

• Possess a current and active RN license
• Have worked full-time as an RN for at least two years.
• Complete at least 2,000 clinical hours in psychiatric and mental health nursing within the last three years
• Complete thirty hours of continuing education in psychiatric and mental health nursing within the last three years

These are the admissions requirements for the Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing certification:

• Possess a current and active RN license
• Hold a master's degree, certificate of completion, or Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree from an accredited psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) program.
• Complete three postgraduate courses in advanced physiology/pathophysiology, advanced health assessment, and advanced pharmacology
• Completed training in health promotion or maintenance, differential diagnosis, disease management and at least two modalities of psychotherapeutic treatment.

How long does it take to become a psychiatric nurse?

The time required to become a psychiatric nurse depends on the level of education acquired. It takes at least two years to become an RN to earn an associate's degree, and becoming an APRN typically takes six years or more. In addition, some certifications, such as B. PMH-BC™ requires RNs to have at least two years of full-time work experience before applying.

Psychiatric nurse salary

Another aspect of working as a psychiatric nurse that depends on a nurse's level of education is salary. WhileRNs earn an average annual salaryfrom $82,750 annually,APRNs deserve an averageof $118,040 annually.

The PMH nurse salary also depends on the settings in which the nurses work. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, these areAverage RN Salariesin different scenarios:

• Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Hospitals: $80,260
• General Medical and Surgical Hospitals: $85,020
• Ambulatory Care Centers: $93,070
• Home Health Care: $78,190
• Doctor's Offices: $73,860
• Nursing Facilities (Qualified Nursing Facilities): $72,260

The following areaverage APRN salariesin different scenarios:

• Home Health Care: $133,170
• Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Hospitals: $131,830
• Ambulatory Care Centers: $129,190
• General Medical and Surgical Hospitals: $122,960
• Doctor's Offices: $114,870
• Offices of other health professionals: $108,890

What does psychological care look like?

like many othersnursing disciplines, psychiatric nursing has advantages and challenges. This specialty is not for everyone either. Here are some ways mental health nurses describe their work:

“Be prepared to expect everything! You will find patients trying to find anything near the unit to harm themselves. Psychotic patients who are calm one minute and a target the next. Patients are fascinated by water and constantly try to flood their rooms. Drug seekers, lots of manipulation, pushy behavior.”Reddit–u/Ballerina Celery

“Community psychology is really interesting! You do a lot of medication (refills, pre-approvals, lab monitoring, administration of long-acting antipsychotics, etc.) but you get to know your patients over time, you can see their stable periods and their struggles. They provide preventive education, give vaccinations, advice on giving up smoking, and nutritional education.”Reddit–You set your cleats

Is psychological care difficult?

Here are some of the aspects of PMH care that psychiatric nurses find most challenging:

"In psychological nursing, you deal with a lot of behaviors, you help people navigate complex emotions and trauma... A lot of time is vigilance, which can be exhausting and ethically challenging at times. It's not easy to take people's choice away or tell them they can't wear their favorite hoodie because the rope on the hood is a hazard. But you must follow the rules for everyone's safety. You have to be forced to give medication. You must be able to balance these actions with care and compassion. You have to build trust and support people in some of their darkest moments. It is an honor and a challenge..."Reddit–u/Bright-Garden-4347

"The ugly one? I think it might be the violence. Yes, we get violent patients. We just got a guy who threatened his family with a knife. We've practiced a lot to de-escalate situations and it just takes some common sense on how to calm and redirect people... Accidents happen of course and although I've never been seriously hurt by a patient I've been slapped, spat on quite a few times , kicked and punched.Reddit–du/thackworth

Why choose psychiatric nursing

Despite the challenges, many psychiatric nurses love their job. Here are some reasons why:

“I love working with this population. Helping someone recover brings great satisfaction. Our acute population requires more intervention and occasional restraint, but when someone going through a psychotic episode recovers, it's just amazing to see the change."Reddit–u/hazelquarrier_couch

"You meet amazing people with amazing stories, and you really get to treat the person and not the disease. There are also so many different scenarios, each with their own pros and cons. I can say that my experience was unique and I wouldn't change it for the world."Reddit–u/CrystalPeppers

What Makes a Good Psychiatric Nurse: Advice for New Nurses

Laut Apna, agood psychiatristunderstands that people are not defined by their illnesses. Psychiatric nurses need to be compassionate, sensitive, excellent communicators and exceptional relationship builders. Here are also some tips from the psychiatric nurses themselves:

"In mental health care, you need to have a passion for this field and population, work well in a team, be attuned to small changes in mood or behavior, have the ability not to take patient behavior personally, and have a rather aggressive sense of it have humor. For better or worse, you will NEVER have a dull day in psychiatry."Reddit–u/msblankenship

“When you work in psychology, you have to be very conscious about setting boundaries for the patient. When you are new, some of these patients will take advantage of your kindness and caring, and you will spend most of your time placating just a few patients and giving in to their demands. I've seen that with a lot of the newer nurses on my units."Reddit–tu/moonstarfc

Final Thoughts on Working as a Psychiatric Nurse

do you think you have itPersonality profile for work as a psychiatric nurse? If you are still not sure what type of nursing job you want, the next best step isTaking on the daily nursing shiftsGain first-hand experience in different settings and roles.
By NursaApp for health workersyou can search for available viatical jobs in your area and apply for as many as you like. You can work one day on your days off or one full-time day - it's up to you.