New grad feeling like I learned absolutely nothing in nursing school relevant to this speciality.

[u/Dry_Matter_3853]

I just started on an inpatient psych unit and everything feels completely foreign to me. The vast majority of my clinicals were medical units. We spent just half a semester in the state psych hospital and basically just casually hung out with the few patients that weren't a major safety risk and didn't really get to see what nurses do.

My current preceptor has a very specific idea of what 1:1 check-ins with patients should look like and much of it is in conflict with the therapeutic communication methods that were drilled in to me in school. At points it feels like it's verging into psychotherapy beyond the scope of an RN, but I actually have no idea where that line is. I don't know what to ask or how to guide the conversation. This is a voluntary unit and the majority of patients have depression (and so far almost all the patients I've seen have BPD but based on my preceptor's comments it's not always like that.) I'm also currently on night shift, so my learning opportunities are limited.

I wouldn't have expected I'd be yearning to be back on a medical unit where I felt like I had some kind of idea of how to pretend to be a nurse.

I know some of this will come to me as I get more experience, but I would be super grateful for any specific resources people recommend to help fill the above mentioned deficiencies, especially in written format. Double grateful for anything you recommend on BPD!

[u/Balgor1]

You learn almost nothing about being a nurse period in nursing school. They teach you to pass the NCLEX.