did I make a huge life mistake?

Hello everyone!

So I am sitting here, like a little worry wart. I chose to go into psychiatric nursing right out of school (it was always the part of my nursing clinicals I actually enjoyed). I have been doing that for 5 years, and still love it. I have gotten to see a good deal of medical things, as the psychiatric hospital where I work is affiliated with a large university medical center. Here is the problem: I may be forced to relocate out of state, due to my spouse's job. I am absolutely TERRIFIED that I will not find a nursing job in the new state. I hear the job market, even for nurses, isn't the best anymore. I'm also terrified of finding a non-psych nursing job, and just being completely inept to handle it. While I have seen a good deal of medical things (we frequently deal with IVs, NG tubes, EKGs, dressing changes, lab values) I still feel not as confident as a nurse with past med surg experience. I'm so afraid that I have pigeon-holed myself by going into psych right out of school. What are your thoughts? Will hospitals even give me a second look?

Please, any thoughts or advice are welcomed. I am beside myself with worry right now
I'm not a nurse recruiter, but I'd imagine you are very desirable to be hired into a psych facility! You have 5 years of experience in a psych hospital, that's excellent. I have a frend that was hired as a new grad to psych, so I'm sure they would love to be hiring someone who has a passion for it plusss experience. What state will you be going to, maybe people can recommend great facilities for you?

Do you want to work psych when you move? If so, then I think you should have no problem getting a psych job. We are seeing more and more psych patients in the ED. Many ED's now have a separate section for psych eval and holding until they can be placed at a psychiatric facility. I want you to be a psych nurse. If I had to do psych nursing, I would have to go work at Lowe's in the garden department because I KNOW, even after many years of nursing, I couldn't do it. So press forward fearlessly, and go for what you are good at!

Even though the job market for nursing is horrible in many places, with your 5 years experience I bet you do find a job. Psych nursing is amazing, and if you can do that then you could handle nursing in any area. I had a few pshyc patients during my last quarter of nursing school on a med surg floor and it was challenging, they were patients who needed their nurses to know how to handle sticky situations and remain calm. I have no doubt you will do well where ever you go. I know it's easy for me to say, but try not to worry so much and trust in yourself and your skills. You have been a nurse for 5 years and no doubt made of tough stuff. Best of luck to you!

I second everyone. To me, you sound like a desirable candidate in any area of nursing. A lot of large hospitals have inpatient psych. Maybe there's one close to you? What would you struggle with in a hospital? Time management? Nope, you've done that. Knowing when something's wrong with a patient? Nope, you've done that. Staying calm in tense situations? Nope, done that too. What's left to worry about?!?

Ditto to all the previous coments. Just a suggestion here - how about State cilvil service psychiatric services? If there's something in the new potential area that's travel-able, you may just want to look into it as they frequently need staff. Salaries may be different, but the civil service benefits are usually good. Good luck to you.

Five years of psych nursing should have taught you that strength lies within us.Were you applying cognitive therapy with your patients?Heal thyself .. stay strong... and move on.