What does a psychiatric nurse do?

A Psychiatric Nurses role is to supervise the medication and treatment of patients diagnosed with mental disabilities, illnesses, or distresses. They have an essential role in the administration of psychiatric treatment and care.
Psychiatric nurse responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real psychiatric nurse resumes:
- Organize and manage regular clinics involving external physicians, including ophthalmology, ENT, Med/Surg, orthopedics, and podiatry professionals.
- Staff register nurse, acute medical rehabilitation unit.
- Perform emergency triage differentiating psychiatric versus medical conditions.
- Perform triage assessment, psychiatric evaluations, medication administration, psychotherapy and case management.
- Provide comprehensive medical-psychiatric care to patients via assessment, planning, evaluation and supervision of therapeutic interactions.
- Provide therapeutic communication and psychiatric rehabilitation with residents to assist with their recovery to return to the community.
- Coordinate services regarding patients' medical appointments, monthly psychiatrists visits, psychotropic injections need and provide patient education.
- Complete documents for state fund Medicaid programs, admission into community nursing and group home facilities and other community resources available.
- Monitor patients with medical cardiac, pulmonary and vascular diagnosis, arrhythmia and administer anti-arrhythmic medications.
Psychiatric nurse skills and personality traits
We calculated that 25% of Psychiatric Nurses are proficient in Patients, Mental Illness, and CPR. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Compassion, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Psychiatric Nurses that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 25%
Transported patients to doctor appointments and Emergency room visits, assisting medical professionals with medical care necessary as required.
- Mental Illness, 11%
Provide comprehensive, community-based psychiatric treatment, rehabilitation and support to persons with serious and persistent mental illness such as schizophrenia.
- CPR, 7%
Provided staff training in CPR, First-Aid, and Medication Aide classes Monitored and assessed client response to psychotropic medications
- Therapeutic Interventions, 5%
Established personal rapport with traumatized patients and their families to provide comfort throughout treatments and therapeutic interventions.
- Psychiatric Care, 4%
Provided inpatient/outpatient psychiatric care to seriously mentally ill inmates requiring such care in the prison Residential Treatment Unit.
- IV, 4%
Treated medically complex patients requiring IV fluids, G-tubes, and central line care.
Most psychiatric nurses use their skills in "patients," "mental illness," and "cpr" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential psychiatric nurse responsibilities here:
Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a psychiatric nurse to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "registered nurses must be able to communicate effectively with patients in order to understand their concerns and evaluate their health conditions." Psychiatric nurses often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "maintained and fostered patient care rights via communication with disciplinary team. "
Compassion. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling psychiatric nurse duties is compassion. The role rewards competence in this skill because "registered nurses should be caring and empathetic when working with patients." According to a psychiatric nurse resume, here's how psychiatric nurses can utilize compassion in their job responsibilities: "treated all patients with kindness and compassion, giving quality medical care. "
Detail oriented. psychiatric nurses are also known for detail oriented, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to psychiatric nurse responsibilities, because "registered nurses must be precise because they must ensure that patients get the correct treatments and medicines at the right time." A psychiatric nurse resume example shows how detail oriented is used in the workplace: "handled the details of medical administration and also provided assistance in crisis intervention. "
Emotional stability. psychiatric nurse responsibilities often require "emotional stability." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "registered nurses need emotional resilience and the ability to cope with human suffering, emergencies, and other stressors." This resume example shows what psychiatric nurses do with emotional stability on a typical day: "provided community based act services to promote stability, recovery, and community integration of individuals with serious mental illness. "
Organizational skills. Another common skill required for psychiatric nurse responsibilities is "organizational skills." This skill comes up in the duties of psychiatric nurses all the time, as "nurses often work with multiple patients who have a variety of health needs." An excerpt from a real psychiatric nurse resume shows how this skill is central to what a psychiatric nurse does: "perform all clinical duties in accordance national patient safety goals as outlined in organizational policies and procedures. "
Physical stamina. Lastly, "physical stamina" is an important element of what a psychiatric nurse does. Psychiatric nurse responsibilities require this skill because "nurses should be comfortable performing physical tasks, such as lifting patients." This resume example highlights how psychiatric nurse duties rely on this skill: "completed cpi training to physically restrain patients. "
The three companies that hire the most psychiatric nurses are:
- New York State Restaurant Association67 psychiatric nurses jobs
- Alameda Health System24 psychiatric nurses jobs
- UPMC24 psychiatric nurses jobs
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Psychiatric nurse vs. Nurse coordinator
A nurse coordinator is primarily in charge of overseeing all nurses and their activities in a hospital or clinic. Their responsibilities include managing and rotating schedules, assessing nurse performance, organizing nursing programs, and developing strategies to optimize procedures. They may also assist patients and answer inquiries, studying their conditions to develop specific care plans to suit their needs. Furthermore, as a nurse coordinator, it is essential to lead and encourage teams to reach goals, all while implementing the facility's policies and regulations.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, psychiatric nurse responsibilities require skills like "mental illness," "therapeutic interventions," "psychiatric care," and "chemical dependency." Meanwhile a typical nurse coordinator has skills in areas such as "customer service," "data collection," "emr," and "critical care." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Nurse coordinators earn the highest salaries when working in the health care industry, with an average yearly salary of $80,569. On the other hand, psychiatric nurses are paid more in the health care industry with an average salary of $63,449.nurse coordinators tend to reach similar levels of education than psychiatric nurses. In fact, nurse coordinators are 1.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Psychiatric nurse vs. Nurse clinician
A nurse clinician is a health expert who provides care and assistance to patients in hospitals, clinics, or similar establishments. Among their responsibilities include preparing equipment and documents, administering medication, monitoring the patient's condition, maintaining charts, and regularly reporting to physicians. In some establishments, they may also perform administrative support tasks such as answering calls and correspondence, preparing and processing documents, and organizing records. Moreover, a nurse clinician must maintain an active communication line with fellow medical staff to provide optimal services to patients.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that psychiatric nurse responsibilities requires skills like "mental illness," "therapeutic interventions," "psychiatric care," and "chemical dependency." But a nurse clinician might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "emergency situations," "patient outcomes," "educational programs," and "acls."
Nurse clinicians earn a higher average salary than psychiatric nurses. But nurse clinicians earn the highest pay in the education industry, with an average salary of $73,633. Additionally, psychiatric nurses earn the highest salaries in the health care with average pay of $63,449 annually.nurse clinicians earn similar levels of education than psychiatric nurses in general. They're 1.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for psychiatric nurses in the next 3-5 years?
Associate Dean of the School of Nursing Professor of Nursing, Quinnipiac University
Psychiatric nurse vs. Nurse educator
A nurse educator is responsible for teaching aspiring professional nurses, designing courses according to the curriculum, and organizing activities to practice and enhance the students' knowledge. Nurse educators manage clinical activities and observe the students' performance in actual training. They must have excellent knowledge of the medical industry, as well as its practices, to respond to the students' inquiries and concerns accurately. A nurse educator identifies the students' strengths and weaknesses, develop comprehensive lesson plans, and strategizing various nursing programs.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from psychiatric nurse resumes include skills like "mental illness," "therapeutic interventions," "psychiatric care," and "chemical dependency," whereas a nurse educator is more likely to list skills in "bls," "bsn," "professional development," and "educational programs. "
Nurse educators earn the best pay in the pharmaceutical industry, where they command an average salary of $94,493. Psychiatric nurses earn the highest pay from the health care industry, with an average salary of $63,449.nurse educators typically earn higher educational levels compared to psychiatric nurses. Specifically, they're 11.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.7% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Psychiatric nurse vs. Advanced registered nurse practitioner
An advanced registered nurse practitioner (ARNP) is responsible for patient care. An ARNP may practice independently or work with other healthcare professionals such as physicians. Your duties typically include examining patients and determining diagnosis by physical examination, patient history, and other medical assessments, admitting, managing, and discharging patients to and from medical facilities, and managing health care by developing, implementing, and evaluating treatment and care plans for patients. You will also be responsible for referring patients to other health care service providers or facilities.
Types of psychiatric nurse
Updated January 8, 2025











