Psychiatric Nursing
All nurses need to learn about psychiatric and mental health issues and how to help their patients deal with problems in this area. That is because, regardless of specialization, all nurses will see patients and/or family members with psychiatric problems or mental health needs. Just recognizing these needs and knowing what to do for patients and families is an important part of nursing care. One of the most famous psychiatric nursing educators, Hildegarde Peplau, writing in the 1950’s, emphasized the importance of nurses' interpersonal skills. Not only are these critical in dealing with psychiatric patients, but in fact just as important with other patients.
Psychiatric nursing was the first specialty within nursing to be identified, and nurses have been trained for many years in the principles of psychiatric nursing, including at the baccalaureate and diploma level. However, professional associations of psychiatric nurses, including The International Society of Psychiatric Nursing and The American Psychiatric Nurses Association, are now coming together to help promote this training. They believe that many programs are failing to teach nurses enough about psychiatric nursing.
Clearly all nurses need at least basic training in mental health principles. Any nurse that wants to specialize in psychiatric nursing needs more than just basic training. General practice psychiatric nurses can work in any mental health setting, from hospital and clinic, to schools and workplaces. Advanced practice nurses can also specialize in psychiatry as nurse practitioners in psychiatric-mental health nursing.
Registered nurses should be able to assess mental health needs and plan nursing care programs for individuals, families and other groups, and communities. On one end of the spectrum, this includes teaching and assisting individuals to improve their ability to cope and care for themselves. On the other end, it means crisis intervention – the ability to recognize and deal with a psychiatric emergency. Registered nurses can specialize in psychiatry with an AD, BSN, or diploma. They are called generalist PMH (psychiatric-mental health) nurses, and can earn between $25,000 a year and $47,000 a year, mainly depending on where they work.
Registered nurses can go on to receive master's or doctoral degrees in psychiatric-mental health, either as nurse practitioners or as clinical nurse specialists. After obtaining the advanced degree, these nurses must do clinical practice under supervision. They can then become certified. They can pick from (but are not limited to) the following sub-specialties: eating disorders, adolescent, geriatric, child, adult, substance abuse, consult/liaison, and forensic psychiatry. They should be able to diagnose and treat a wide variety of psychiatric problems. They can practice on their own, in group practice, in hospitals, in clinics, and anywhere mental health professionals are needed. In addition to their training, they must be licensed by the state. They are called advanced psychiatric-mental health nurses (APRN-PMH), and they make between $50,000 and $70,000 per year, again depending on geographic location.
If you are interested in psychiatric nursing, you need to consider the wide array of practice opportunities and locations. You do not have to work in a psychiatric institution with psychotic patients who will probably never recover. You can work with young people struggling with emotional problems including depression, eating disorders, and substance abuse. You can help the elderly learn to cope with deteriorating physical health and even memory problems. Working in a regular clinic or on a general hospital ward, you can help people who are sick cope with their illness and related problems. You can decide to do this as an RN, or you can pursue further training if you really want to treat people with mental health issues yourself.
Even if you do not pursue psychiatric nursing, its principles will help you in any nursing field.
Published: 2009-10-14
