Adult or mental health nursing

[Monika007]

Dear all, in the old age of late 30. I decided to come back to uni and become a nurse. I have been working for almost 8 years as an hca in a mental hospital. My bigest dilemma is should I go for mental of general nursing? I like the mental health and I know how it is look like from inside, but on the other hands I like the physical health side of it and I think I would enjoy to work as a general nurse too. What to choose? Any advices xx

Hi OP, I’m early 30’s and have started uni to retrain as a nurse this year. What I’ve gathered so far is that adult nursing allows for lots and lots of movement, whereas the MH or child branch keeps you “locked” into that area.

Personally, I’d like to complete post-reg training and become a HV or school nurse, so I’ve gone for the adult branch which will allow for lots of different opportunities.

Obviously, it’s personal preference as to which you go for, but just wanted to drop in my 2p’s worth. Wishing you all the best whatever you decide!

The two jobs are very very different, especially as many RMNs end up as CPNs. In practice, in MH nursing there is very little “clinical” work for most nurses compared to adult nursing-many/most MH nurses don’t even wear a uniform day to day. The progression in MH nursing is also very different; rather than learning more advanced medical skills a MH nurse will either move towards case management (so tribunals, courts etc) or therapy. It depends what you enjoy and/or are good at. If you enjoy talking to people and getting to know their stories I’d go for MH whereas if you enjoy the more “science” based aspect of medicine I’d go for Adult. Of course they both have aspects of all of these things but the actual day to day job tends to be skewed.

I'm a mental health nurse , qualified 7 years

Adult mental health can be very hands off talking therapies , administering medication but Then really hands on depending on the MH area -
Restraint of violent / self harming patients ,
Administration of injections in restraint against patients wishes ,
A lot of MH are community care , MH nurses can work in a&e , become health visitors etc

Depends what you think you'll enjoy most, you definitely need to enjoy it

That's interesting, I didn't know you can become Health Visitor after MH nursing too

I opened the thread with questions about personal qualities that might suit someone to one route or the other, and whether they have the same, or different career development possibilities.

And both my questions have been answered! Excellent.