Want to be an NP but have a bad back and hip (NPs with relatively sedentary jobs?)

[ElJamo17]

-thank

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[762513]

Hey everybody,

I was a neuroscience major in college. I have struggled to find work that translates well to what I studied until I began reading about psychiatric NPs.

My only concern is that I don't want to spend the majority of my time standing, this could be difficult due to some congenital issues.

I don't mind standing up for an hour at a time, stooping, etc. but I would find it hard to be on my feet for 12 hours straight. Are psychiatric nps a little more sedentary than most nursing classes?? Are there other specialties that are a bit more sedentary?

-thanks

You would have to become a RN first with RN clinical rotation and schedules. With the health problems you describe I don’t see that happening.

 

[pamac]

Clinical rotations would be tough, but in my nursing school they were 2 days per week at most, but could be up to 10 hours for a shift. But after graduating nursing school, you could find a job that would allow you a job that would be better suited for your condition. Nursing has a lot of breadth as far as options available. Most folks think of hospital nursing first, but there are other venues to work. And if you went to a psyche facility, you would find that you spend a lot of your time sitting, or for the most part doing back friendly activities. However, there is always the possibility of getting attacked by a patient, which could prove strenuous. It all depends on how you plan to deal with situations where things get physical. I know tiny nurses that have been in the industry their whole careers and never got hurt. And realistically, its not expected for staff to get beat up in their jobs. In fact, I notice that mental health nurses tend to get assaulted a lot less than other nurses, because we have a lot less to focus on than, say, an ER nurse who gets clobbered by a patient while they are trying to do other things on the patient. In mental health, we tend to spend most of our time looking at behavior and little else. You'd be surprised at what you can see coming when you have that kind of focus. I had way more physical issues with patients when I was in the ER than I have when I am working with just mental health patients.