r/psychnursing

Hey everyone, I am a current student wanting to become a nurse specifically in a psych ward. My question is this. How often do ya’ll deal with absolutely disgusting things? Now this might be subjective but here’s the thing. I have the heart to help people and I can deal with gross stuff if need be, but I’m wondering if in the psych area of things if this is a daily occurrence. Due to my own mental health challenges I have compassion for others and want to help how I can but I don’t want to do something I’m not fit for. I also think I may get used to more gross stuff if I do it more often but yeah.

EDIT: thanks everyone for your responses. From what I’m getting it seems there are definitely some pretty gross stuff but people tend to get used to it and in pysch it definitely happens but it’s not like a daily occurrence of extremely disgusting things over and over. However it seems I’ll have a fair share of pretty gross experiences if I work as a nurse for a while! Also seems like location plays a big role in all this and frequency of experiences.

I am a pretty new nurse (been working almost a year) at an inpatient psych unit. Most days the job is stressful, which is kind of to be expected as a new nurse. The issue I’m having is that whenever one specific charge nurse is working, I seem to be given a super heavy patient load. It’s definitely not just my imagination. Several (like 5 separate nurses on 5 separate shifts) have said to me “oh wow, thats your patient load? I’m sorry that sucks” or “you have those 2 guys? That’s kinda cruel. You probably shouldn’t have both” “you’re getting another d/c then admission? That seems like a lot”. On top of that, this charge nurse doesn’t help with anything. She mostly just plays candy crush? Any idea what I should do in this situation? I am friendly to this charge nurse. Not sure what her problem is. When I was fresh fresh on the unit, most of the charge nurses would give me hard patient loads (nurses eating their young) but the others have eased up … this lady just keeps piling it on. It’s making me want to quit. Advice?

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?

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

Let's hear your horror stories, boys, and girls

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.

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 :)

ADHD nurses: does nursing ever get easier, or am I just in the wrong specialty?
Hi ADHD nurses! I’ve been a nurse for a little over 2 years and I’m really struggling to find the right fit.
I started in the NICU because I LOVE babies, but it was a Level III and I was incredibly bored. I did enjoy the routine of the feeding rounds and it helped me stay on track. I wanted more acuity and realized feeder-growers weren’t for me.

Now I’m on a peds step-down unit and honestly… this shit feels like purgatory. 😭
There are SO many tasks happening at once, and I struggle with the constant switching, remembering tiny details, and keeping track of what I have/haven’t done. When I’m sleep deprived, it’s even worse. I’m constantly thinking, “Did I do that? Did I unclamp that? What am I forgetting?”

And I’ve genuinely tried everything—medication, to-do lists, routines, strategies, asking for advice, etc. I’ve improved a lot, but I’m starting to wonder if I’m trying to fit a square into a circle-shaped hole.
The frustrating part is that I LOVE critical thinking. I love acuity, connecting the dots, recognizing changes, and understanding the “why.” It’s the execution of 500 tiny details simultaneously that kills me.

I have to stay at the bedside for a while longer, so I’m trying to find a specialty that works with my brain instead of constantly fighting it.

I’m currently debating psych vs. ED.
Psych came very naturally to me in nursing school, but I also love acuity and critical thinking, so I’m wondering about the ED.

For ADHD nurses: if you’re overstimulated on the floor, did you find the ED to be even worse, or is it a different kind of stimulation that works better for you?

And if neither sounds right, what specialty ended up being a good fit for your ADHD brain? Preferably peds/babies, but I’m open to anything.
I’m not looking for “leave nursing” advice for the current moment (bc i can’t). I just want to find somewhere I can actually use my strengths and be happy.

Sincerely,
an ADHD nurse on the pursuit of (happier)ness 😭

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

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.