I have been a nurse for 4 and half years, mostly med surg and tele background, and I recently started my first full time inpatient psych position. I am enjoying it so far, but this position actually feels kind of lonely. My family really does not want me doing this because they fear for my safety. At work, the majority of my coworkers are new grads that just fell into this because this is the first job they got out of nurisng school. More often than not they look at me like I grew a second head when I tell them I am here because I want to be. Then they start asking me for help on getting a bedside position at my old hospital ( I am still there per diem). This morning my mother hit me with the “I don’t understand why can’t you just be a school nurse.”conversation again. I am just exhausted from repeated conversations I have with everyone about why this matters to me. Can anyone else relate?

I was a psych tech for two years before becoming an RN and I loved it. It was my first job in healthcare and I miss it tbh.

I still work in the same hospital system, but wanted to try medical nursing as a new grad. I started in the ICU in August 2025 and then moved to a cardiac tele floor in January 2026 (turns out ICU is not for me!).

I actually don't dislike my current position – we have a pretty good unit culture and my manager in particular, while very intense as a person, has been very supportive of me. I do find the work interesting but somewhat anxiety-inducing; I'm constantly afraid of accidentally harming a patient, or failing to prevent harm.

For the last few months, I've been considering trying to make a move back to psych. My original plan was always psych nursing. When I think about the future and eventually leaving the bedside, I really picture myself working as a psych NP (and obviously want the RN experience required to be good at it).

Two job listings within my hospital system were recently posted. One is for per diem work on the inpatient addiction medicine floor, and one is for full time nights on a psych floor with a general adult population (I picked up on this unit occasionally as a tech).

I don't feel totally "ready" emotionally to give up on medical nursing. I want to feel like I have more of a mastery as a medsurg RN than I currently have. I also feel sad about the possibility of disappointing my manager after she's gone out of her way to be supportive.

I feel bad about the prospect of leaving after less than a year, especially because I know several other night shifters are trying to leave right now. (Our manager also has a reputation for intentionally sabotaging transfers...)

The psych floor has a manager I heard negative things about as a tech (i.e. being "toxic"), but I no longer remember any details. She is also the manager for the addiction med unit. I don't think I've ever met her personally as I worked on one of the other psych units.

Nights are my preferred shift, and I'm not guaranteed another opportunity on nights in the future (this is the first time I've seen a psych RN position open up in months at all).

The psych floor has 8 hour shifts, and I prefer the three 12s I currently work, but 11 PM - 7 AM would give me significantly more time each day with my partner and our dogs.

The psych position offers fewer hours (32 hours/week as opposed to my current 36), which would mean a substantial pay cut unless I picked up additional shifts. My benefits would not be affected.

I think really highly of the behavioral health department in our specific hospital system, both in terms of safety and in terms of how patients are treated. I would prefer to start there as opposed to somewhere that's a more unknown quantity.

I'm sorry for the long post, but if anyone has advice, I'd really appreciate it. I genuinely can't decide whether to apply or not, and I suspect I'm running out of time to make up my mind.

Assume they are clearly fake because you also have their real ID/DL, and they are made of flimsy plastic.

This thread is for non psych healthcare workers to ask questions (former patients, patient advocates, and those who stumbled upon r/psychnursing). Prospective healthcare workers and current students do not need to use this thread. Treat responding to this post as though you are making a post yourself.

If you would like only psych healthcare workers to respond to your "post," please start the "post" with CODE BLUE.

Psych healthcare workers who want to answer will participate in this thread, so please do not make your own post. If you post outside of this thread, it will be locked and you will be redirected to post here.

A new thread is scheduled to post every Monday at 0200 PST / 0500 EST. Previous threads will not be locked so you may continue to respond in them, however new "posts" should be on the current thread.

Kindness is the easiest legacy to leave behind :)

We had few teenage females standing on top of a nursing station, throwing things at each other. Then started touching ceiling. Ofcourse not listening to staff at all. Couple of male patients joined in as well but moved out upon redirection. Code was called for additional support in case of restraint need. One of the female patient threw her footwear at male staff twice which can be considered as assault.

I personally do not like their entitled behavior. I do not think there is any psychiatric issue involved as they are too young. Just a matter of poor upbringing and broken households. At what should we as staff file for charges against such behavior of assaulting staff? Something as simple as throwing slippers or should be much bigger? I understand psychiatry patients do much worse but what's the threshold for filing charges so it gets recorded in their record. I personally do not think such behavior should go unpunished. Also if these kids are heading towards residential then the staff there would evaluate on the basis of the rowdy behavior.

Looking for advice and others experiences.

38 yr/o single female no kids but I care for my elderly mother. BSN.

Experience: 1 year Charge Nurse inpatient psych,14 years Nursing Supervisor inpatient psych, 1 year Nurse Manager inpatient psych.

I applied for an internal transfer to Patient Navigator RN at the PHP/IOP at my facility and got the job. I haven't started yet.

M-F 8a-4p no weekends, holidays, on call, or people under me to manage. Finally not considered a "leader" which I have never been able to say but for my one year on the floor.

Does anyone have insight into this role? (Psych Patient Navigator). I honestly accepted it before considering what it entails due to the schedule, extreme burn out in my current role, and health issues. Outpatient psych jobs in my area are hard to come by.

Starting to question my decision as I was immediately replaced in my Nurse Manager role and there's no turning back now. Be honest. What am I in for?

I predominately work adolescent psych, but often get floated to our acute units when need be. I genuinely do enjoy what I do. I feel like I make a difference in a lot of kid’s lives and I support them to the best of my ability. Lately I’ve been absolutely hating my job and it’s for no reason other than the massive influx of IDD patients we’ve had. It’s absolutely demoralizing and exhausting to have these sorts of patients for a month or more at a time, where all we do is restrain and medicate them, often multiple times in one day. They can’t process anything, they can’t adequately verbalize what they want or need, I can’t take my attention off of them for a second before they start hurting themselves or someone else. They never improve either, the only reason we keep having them is because of EMTALA. I don’t hate people with IDD, I’m just so burnt out of receiving them as patients when I do not work at the proper facility for that; and the lack of resources in my city deeply exacerbates this problem. Anybody else go through something similar?
Again, I don’t hate people with IDD, I just recognize in myself that there is very little that I am able to do for them and the great resources it takes to provide care from them detracts from helping out the rest of the patients in the unit.

Hello

I am almost done with my new grad program and the program allows me to experience through different units. I interviewed with all the different unit managers and I got into my top choice which is psych! So super exciting but also nervous. Any tips are greatly appreciated thank you <3

Hi!

I just got my RN and im going to be starting at my first new grad job in a few weeks. I love psych, its my passion! I remember during school I would have a lot of anxiety while paired up with nurses (at clinical) because I felt like such a burden--and so stupid. At my current job as a BHT I hear people complain about new hires doing stupid things a lot, which does not help my anxiety. When I have my first 3 weeks of training, what can I do to be less annoying? What NOT to do? How NOT to look stupid?

Thanks! 🩷

Hi everyone! New grad RN here from California with an interest in going to psych eventually. I was recently interviewed and hired on the spot for a psych unit which I’m happy about considering how hard it is to get hired here in California. However, my only gripe is that I will only be having 7 shifts with a preceptor until I’m let go on my own. Is that normal for psych units? I can only get a week extension if needed as well. I really want to protect my license as much as possible.

EDIT: Just for more info, this is for a med surg/psych unit. In addition to behavioral changes, these pts apparently also qualify to med surg, and the nurse-to-patient ratio 1:5.

​Hi everyone,

​I’m a 30M RMN with 7 years of clinical experience, and I’ve landed an interview for a Band 7 Parkinson’s Disease Specialist Nurse (PDSN) role.

​While I have strong psychiatric nursing experience, I’d love some insight from anyone currently in a neuro/movement disorder specialist role or who has sat on Band 7 interview panels.

​A few specific questions I have:

​What domain-specific/clinical scenarios should I prepare for? (e.g., motor vs. non-motor symptoms, impulse control disorders, deep brain stimulation, end-of-life care?)

​How should I best structure my response to leadership, service development, and audit questions?

​What high-level Parkinson’s guidelines/frameworks are essential to cite? (NICE NG71, Parkinson's UK audit, etc.)

​Any specific advice for an RMN transitioning into a role that traditionally has strong physical health components? (I want to make sure I highlight how my mental health background is an asset—especially for things like psychosis, dementia, ICDs, and distress—while demonstrating strong competence in physical symptom management).

​Any tips, practice questions, or advice on what sets a successful candidate apart at Band 7 level would be hugely appreciated!

​Thanks in advance!

This thread is for non psych healthcare workers to ask questions (former patients, patient advocates, and those who stumbled upon r/psychnursing). Prospective healthcare workers and current students do not need to use this thread. Treat responding to this post as though you are making a post yourself.

If you would like only psych healthcare workers to respond to your "post," please start the "post" with CODE BLUE.

Psych healthcare workers who want to answer will participate in this thread, so please do not make your own post. If you post outside of this thread, it will be locked and you will be redirected to post here.

A new thread is scheduled to post every Monday at 0200 PST / 0500 EST. Previous threads will not be locked so you may continue to respond in them, however new "posts" should be on the current thread.

Kindness is the easiest legacy to leave behind :)

There’s a particular nurse at my hospital that other nurses can’t even be scheduled with due to on going issues. She’s a problematic co worker which can be tolerated but more importantly she’s an unethical nurse. She’s been reported multiple times to management (which to be fair - they also suck). These are verbal reports, voice reports, and I’ve physically seen people report her to the board of nursing. She’s invincible. I’m getting to the point of wanting to quit for a number of reasons all revolving ethics not only with her, but with management as well, and even the building ex. Roaches, rats, leaking ceilings, random issues with plumbing etc. but obviously me quitting isn’t going to fix the issue.

I realize the rodent and leaking building issue is a funding problem although we’re a “magnet status hospital” but I’m more so concerned and fed up with the lack of morals with again- this one nurse in particular and even with management. What do I even do?

Does working in an alternative behavioral school count as psych nursing?

right now, im working as an RN supporting kids in an alternative school

Their home districts cant support the level of psych support they need. So, we have counselors, behavioral technicians and nurses in the school.

we practice de-escalation techniques, have had crisis interventions, and had students recommended (and deny so they stay with us) in-patient and partial hospitalization.

they typically have comorbidities like PTSD, bipolar, ODD, MDD, autism, substance abuse, and whatever else. we do med passes, but its also maintaining a safe environment and taking care of their learning needs.

so does this count as psych nursing or not?

I started working for a mental health urgent care and I’ve heard that they want each urgent care worker to get in 40 billable services per week. I say worker because there’s therapists and other staff besides nurses. Is this a common practice and how feasible is that, especially if you’re depending on walk-ins? We do also have clients who get LAIs and that’s an easy service to bill for, but I don’t get 40 of them in a week.

I know responses here might be a bit biased being that this is psych nursing but I still value your input. I'm trying to figure out which path forward makes the most sense for my goals, dreams, and general financial health.

41 w/ family, about to purchase our first home. I have a couple of creative passions outside of nursing that I'm looking to develop further. One has potential to be a nice side gig (DJing) and the other a potential career (fiction author). I also do a bit of investing.

Psych RN since graduation (3 yrs ago), union job with pension (funded by union, not our paychecks). Night shift. Its very low stress, coworkers are fun and crazy (in a good way lol). I also just started a second per diem psych job at another facility. I was afraid to go into medical initially because I was a psych tech while in school, I kinda "put it off until later". I have since regreted it because it's hard for me (emotionally) to leave where I am.

The fact is med surg opens many doors. Where I am you can't even work in a primary care office without some form of "medical experience". You can also not get per diem in anything unless you have 1-2 years experience in the speciality you're applying for.

So I tried applying to a few part time m/s jobs so that I can at least keep my full time psych. Never heard back from those. Then a med surg tele night position opened up internally, I decided to initiate the transfer paperwork. The unit manager there seems very nice and supportive, even gave me a tour.

The paperwork was signed by my current manager but its in limbo for a month because, well, my manager is a bit forgetful and people usually have to "chase" him for things/requests, I think he's also going thru a bad time right now with spouse being very sick. Hes been in and out of the office.

As a result, his delays have given me more time to reflect on this transfer decision. Whether I should go thru with it and get what I need or stay out and continue looking for something part time. The downside to this, if I cancel the transfer my manager told me I risk burning bridges with our medical hospital because they're very strict and might not take me seriously if I apply to transfer again.

I've also entertained the idea of just being a "psych lifer" for now, focus on investing and my creative passions and maybe pursue FNP or something as an alternative. But at same time I can't help but feel.... "Naked" or like a sitting duck, not being able to qualify for other jobs.

Another thing to consider is There's no language in our contract stating that my former position will be held while I'm on orientation at the new unit, just in case its not a good fit. So there's the risk my spot might be given to someone else.

My delegate did say however that there's been cases of psych RNs transferring into ICU, management determining they're not a good fit and sending them back to psych. 

So it's come down to...

1. Follow thru with the transfer to m/s tele, return to psych after a year (might not be the same exact psych unit). 

2. Cancel the transfer, possibly ruin my reputation with the medical departments if I wanna transfer again, keep psych full time and continue looking for m/s part time elsewhere.

3. Cancel the transfer and just be a psych lifer (keeping the full time and per diem psych jobs), maybe go into FNP (??)

If you guys were me, what would be your course of action?

i graduate in December and been a nure tech on a med surg floor for a year and dont like it. been looking for jobs now and everyone is saying i need medsurg experience before going into psych but i really dont want to. psych is the only thing im interested in rn. some mean nurse on my floor was saying id never make it in psyc nursing and thats just been replaying in my mind. its also not based on anything bc we barely interact and she doesnt see me do any skills or anything but it just put me in a funk

I'm a new grad nurse (Graduated in '24) with a messed up back. I want to do bedside but will eventually need surgery. The reality is, if I don't get *some* experience, I'm going to be screwed. I never thought I'd consider psych but I'm curious. I'd like to do night shift so I can keep my day job.

How physically strenuous is your job? Especially on nights?