# Nursing Degree



## Glacial (Jun 16, 2010)

I think an ideal career would be in psychology; however, I am 24 now and not finding it too practical to begin the long road to a masters in psychology. Therefore, I have considered a career as a mental health/psychiatric nurse. Anyone able to comment on this specialty?

Also, here is the real potential deal-breaker: I hate blood, guts and gore. I am assuming I would not have to deal with this as a mental health nurse, but will I be able to make it through nursing school? I love to study pathology and can deal with it all in books, but I don't want to take that route in the real-world (working with surgeries etc.). I can put up with a small amount of blood, but I don't want to be looking at much as it makes me squemish.

I need some good advice! Particularly, from someone in the field.


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## suddenstorm (Feb 2, 2011)

I think you should work on completing your psychology degree. You're still young. Don't feel pressured to just finish something because you think you are getting older. Do what you are really passionate about.

Just a warning to you that nursing is a very abusive profession(both physically and mentally). As far as dealing with the blood, you will most likely still have to do assessments and treatments on psych patients...including wound care and other very gruesome things. 

Research this very well before you decide on this.


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## Glacial (Jun 16, 2010)

suddenstorm said:


> I think you should work on completing your psychology degree. You're still young. Don't feel pressured to just finish something because you think you are getting older. Do what you are really passionate about.
> 
> Just a warning to you that nursing is a very abusive profession(both physically and mentally). As far as dealing with the blood, you will most likely still have to do assessments and treatments on psych patients...including wound care and other very gruesome things.
> 
> Research this very well before you decide on this.


Thanks for you input. I definitely want to make an informed decision.

Do you have a nursing degree? Any experience in psych?


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## tea111red (Nov 8, 2005)

i'm supposed to complete my nursing degree this year, if all goes well. it is a difficult degree to pursue and you must be prepared to put A LOT of time and effort into it. it is mentally and physically draining, but it is fulfilling i suppose. i have my good and bad days.

i already went through my psychiatric nursing rotation and it wasn't that bad. it was not nearly as bad i had anticipated. you do have to watch your back, literally though. you don't deal much with blood in this area, this is true. the kinds of things you'd be doing that would involve blood would most likely be wounds, dressing changes, and injections. i did find it interesting doing the assessments though. compared to my other rotations, this was probably one of the better ones. floor nursing is far worse than psychiatric nursing, imo.

if you don't have any of the prereqs done yet, you may as well get your masters in psychology if that is what you really want to do. it takes awhile to get into most nursing programs these days. i had been done with prereqs for a year before i got into nursing school. i hear some schools have a 2 year wait list though. just something to think about.


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