Prison Nursing - Mental Health or Adult

Hi,

So I am interested in Prison Nursing and Initially wanted to do this as a Mental Health Nurse, however upon looking into this it would appear that a lot of roles for this require you to have A&E experience.

I have tried to look into what a Mental Health Nurse will learn that is that same as an Adult Nurse, IE are we taught basics and then split off later on? I have tried to found out if a Mental Health Nurse can work in A&E but again, haven't really found much on this either and am concerned this is because I wouldn't have the skills needed in an emergency.

Can anyone help me with this as considering now going down the route of Adult Nursing first and don't know what to do?

Thank :smile:

Reply 1

Jackieox

Original post by Kythryn

Personally i'd stick with the mental health nursing and call each of the unis and see what experience they require, It could be that as long as you have something in a care setting they'd be happy to accept that =)

Reply 2

Kythryn

Original post by Jackieox

Thank you. :smile:

It's not experience for uni, once I'm qualified I would need to work in A&e but wasn't sure if you can as a mental health nurse? X

Reply 3

wbnurse

Original post by Kythryn

Thank you. :smile:

It's not experience for uni, once I'm qualified I would need to work in A&e but wasn't sure if you can as a mental health nurse? X

I never knew you needed a&e experience to do prison nursing?? I would sway more towards adult nursing if a&e experience is what you want

Reply 4

Kythryn

Original post by wbnurse

I never knew you needed a&e experience to do prison nursing?? I would sway more towards adult nursing if a&e experience is what you want

Thank you. I'm really unsure what to do now haha. I've been thinking about Adult nursing as seems to offer more variety but find mental health interesting.

I think they like A&E because you would deal better in an emergency situation. I don't think it would be a necessity but having looked into it they seem to like the expected I don't want to limit myself if that makes sense without me sounding like I have my head up my bum x

Reply 5

mel_l218

https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/nursing/mental-health-nurse

This may help you, it does specify prison as one of the areas MH nurses work in, so I assume not all prisons specify A&E experience. I believe as a MH nurse you can also work as part of a team in A&E so it wouldn't be impossible to get experience there if you did MH nursing.
Have you been to a university open day at all? They can normally tell you a lot about opportunities in mental health and adult nursing so you can find out more there.
At the end of the day, choose the branch which you think will be best for you and that you will enjoy the most.
I hope this helps.

Reply 6

Kythryn

Original post by mel_l218

No I haven't been to an open day yet but will have loads of questions when I do. Haha
Interested to see if there is any way to obtain a placement in a prison as well.

Reply 7

mel_l218

Original post by Kythryn

No I haven't been to an open day yet but will have loads of questions when I do. Haha
Interested to see if there is any way to obtain a placement in a prison as well.

At my firm university, they do placements at prisons so hopefully that's an option at the university you want to apply to.

Reply 8

paulbarlow

WHY. get some normal work experience. speak to a nurse that works in prisons. the prisioners are meant to recieve the same treatment as everyone else they dont. a web site may give you some understanding. http://www.insidetime.org/

Reply 9

Kythryn

Original post by paulbarlow

I have spoken to a few and am in contact woth 2 but they have been in the role for many years and have advised it's a bit different when applying to how it was when they applied. I have looked into this for a number of years as this is not the first time I have started this process. It is this that interests me.

Reply 10

Emjai

Hiya,

There's a really good Facebook group called; Student Nursing Journeys and Beyond. There is a lady on there that is a recently qualified (in the last year i think) RNMH and works in a Prison so may be of some help.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 11

Kythryn

[QUOTE="Emjai;71730352"]Hiya,

There's a really good Facebook group called; Student Nursing Journeys and Beyond. There is a lady on there that is a recently qualified (in the last year i think) RNMH and works in a Prison so may be of some help.[/QUOTE

Thank you lovely I'll have a look xx

Reply 12

Kythryn

Thanks for everyone's help on here, I will stick to mental health nursing and go from there. Will see if I can wrangle a prison placement for my elective as well :smile:

Reply 13

deviant182

Learning Disability nurses also work in prisons....

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Reply 14

Swagio

Maybe it's just me but all the prison nurses I know are mental health! I have ones on my cohort too who are hoping to go straight into prisons. You also have forensic units which are really interesting. My hospital has 2 and we can get placements there. Really interesting area!

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Reply 15

paulbarlow

if that area appeals the secure mental hospitals used to run there own training. im sure it been swallowed up by a uni now. see if you can find the uni that does it. it would equip you well to deal with the issues you will face in a forensic work place.