Psychiatric Nurse: Duties, Pay, and How to Become One

Roughly one in five people in the US [1], and more than 10 percent of the global population [2], live with mental illness. While the severity ranges from mild to severe symptoms, mental health is an increasingly important segment of the health care field.

Psychiatric nurses care for individuals, groups, families, and communities impacted by mental health conditions. Sometimes referred to as "psychiatric mental health nurses" or "psych nurses," these professionals receive specialized training that prepares them to take on additional responsibilities needed to care for people with psychological and behavioral problems.

In this article, you'll learn more about psychiatric nurses, including what they do, how much they earn, and what you need to become one. You'll also learn about the different environments in which they work and explore courses that can help you start gaining job-relevant skills today.

What is a psychiatric nurse?

A psychiatric mental health nurse (PMHN) is a registered nurse (RN) with specialized training that equips them with the expertise required to care for and support individuals suffering from mental health problems.

The exact work psychiatric nurses perform is dependent on where they work, the training they've had, and their patients' needs. Nonetheless, common duties include observing patients, administering medications, and helping with self-care and general physical health.

It can be a varied and rewarding career requiring neurobiological, psychosocial, and nursing expertise.

What do psychiatric nurses do?

As a psychiatric nurse, you might work in many different settings, evaluating and supporting your patients’ mental health needs and working with doctors to execute care plans. As a mental health nurse, you won't treat mental health conditions on your own. You'll work in tandem with a team of health care professionals, including psychiatrists, psychotherapists, and social workers, to create, implement, and monitor treatment and care plans.

A few of the everyday things you might do in this role include:

• Conducting intake screening and evaluation

• Working with interdisciplinary teams

• Educating patients and their families

• Providing community education

• Practicing crisis intervention

• Providing case management

• Promoting general/overall health 

• Administering and monitoring treatment regimes

• Teaching self-care and helping patients achieve individual goals

As a psychiatric nurse, you can expect to promote mental health in various ways. You might work with children exposed to trauma, soldiers coming home from combat, supporting adults and teenagers with mental illness, and more.

Psychiatric nurse vs. psychiatric nurse practitioner

As a psych RN, you'll work with psychiatrists, social workers, and psychiatric nurse practitioners who oversee cases, determine diagnoses, and order treatments.

If you choose to advance your career and become a psych nurse practitioner, the level of care you can provide will grow. As a psych nurse practitioner, you'll be able to write prescriptions, perform advanced assessments, design and order treatment and care plans, diagnose conditions, and provide psychotherapy or counseling.

Read more: What Is a Nurse Practitioner? Your Career Guide

Where do psychiatric nurses work?

Psych nurses may work in any setting that provides mental health services, including federal agencies, schools, rehabilitation centers, hospitals, and clinics.

Here's what you can expect from three of the most common work environments you may work in as a psychiatric nurse:

• Hospitals: If you work as a psychiatric nurse in an inpatient treatment center or hospital, you’ll likely work closely with other care team members. You’ll closely monitor patients, ensuring they've received an accurate diagnosis and subsequently adjust or stabilize their medications. Other common tasks include performing safety and risk assessments, managing meds, and assisting with patients' grooming and bathing.

• Correctional facilities: The number of mentally ill people in correctional facilities is roughly three times higher than those in hospitals, according to research published by the Treatment Advocacy Center [3]. Should you pursue a role in a correctional facility, you may work as part of an inpatient psychiatric unit within the facility, or you could work as an outpatient psych nurse providing evaluations, interventions, and counseling to inmates who reside in the general population.

• Assisted living facilities: Anywhere from 65 percent to 91 percent of residents in long-term care facilities may have mental health problems, according to research published by the National Library of Medicine [4]. As a psych nurse in a nursing home or assisted living facility, you will likely consult with health professionals and psychiatrists to manage patients' mental and physical health, create and monitor treatment plans, and manage medications.

Psychiatric nurse salary and job outlook

Psychiatric nurses earn a higher-than-average salary and are in strong demand.

According to Glassdoor, psychiatric nurses in the United States earn an average base pay of $88,059 as of July 2023 [5]. That's significantly higher than the median annual pay for all jobs in the country, which the US Bureau of Labor Statistics pegged at $45,760 as of May 2021 [6].

Demand for nurses is similarly strong. According to the US BLS, the number of job openings for registered nurses is expected to grow by 6 percent between 2021 and 2031, resulting in about 203,000 new job openings a year [7]. Furthermore, the BLS projects that the number of job openings for advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) to grow by 40 percent during the same period, adding about 30,200 new jobs a year [8].

How to become a psychiatric nurse

To be a psychiatric nurse, you must first get your registered nurse (RN) license. To become an RN, you need to graduate with at least an associate degree in nursing from an accredited program. You’ll also complete additional training and can typically expect that employers will require you to gain some professional experience in the field before getting a job as a psychiatric nurse. 

Read more: How to Become a Registered Nurse (RN)

1. Gain your nursing degree.

Your education is an excellent starting point on the path to becoming a psychiatric nurse. To qualify for the national nursing exam (NCLEX-RN), you must graduate from a nursing program. Some of the most common options include:

• Completing a two-year nursing degree program to earn your associate degree

• Completing a three-year nursing diploma program, which is typically a hospital-based program

• Completing a four-year nursing degree program to get your bachelor's degree (BSN)

• Completing an accelerated BSN program if you already have a bachelor's degree in another subject, a process that typically takes 14 to 15 months on average

Read more: How to Get Into Nursing School: Your Guide to a Degree

2. Gain clinical experience and get certified.

Once you've passed the RN license exam, you'll need to gain clinical experience. Most employers look for you to have at least two years of working as a full-time RN before hiring you to work in mental health nursing. Additionally, to become certified as a psych nurse through the American Nurses Credentialing Center, you'll also need to complete 2,000 hours of clinical experience in a psychiatric setting within three years of passing the NCLEX-RN as part of the prerequisites.

Another requirement to become certified as a psychiatric nurse is completing 30 hours of psychiatric nursing-specific continuing education within three years of passing the NCLEX-RN. You will also be required to complete continuing education on an ongoing basis to maintain the certification and maintain your RN license.

3. Hone the right skills.

To be successful as a psych nurse, you’ll need a combination of education and experience to develop essential skills and the passion and drive to work in a potentially stressful environment. In addition to having a solid foundation in general nursing and holding an active license as a registered nurse, it’s also helpful to cultivate skills such as: 

• Critical thinking: Every patient has unique psychological needs. As a psych nurse, you'll need to approach each patient using a personalized approach based on assessments and psychiatric nursing techniques.

• Compassion and empathy: As a psych nurse, you must never forget you're treating a person's mind in addition to their emotions and personality. You'll need to be able to listen and try to understand patients' points of view and use interpersonal skills to build rapport with patients and their families.

• Interest in mental health nursing: To be successful in this role, you need to be passionate about and interested in what you're doing. This isn't just a job you choose for the paycheck. You should have a passion for helping others with their mental health struggles, a drive to understand and continue learning about the brain and mental illnesses, and the desire to help impact change in mental health care.

• Reliability and consistency: Your patients and your coworkers will rely on you to provide a steady quality of care and maintain a constant level of professionalism.

4. Consider specialization and advancement.

Several options are available if you want to expand the scope of your mental health nursing career. One way is to specialize. You may choose an area of focus such as child and adolescent mental health, acute care, military mental health, substance use disorders, or psychiatric care for the elderly.

You might also choose to move into a psychiatric mental health advanced practice registered nurse (PMH-APRN) position. The role requires advanced education and involves tasks like consulting or working as a liaison, providing consultations and mental health services to patients and families, and collaborating with integrated health care providers. 

You may also opt to become an advanced practice psychiatric nurse, also known as a psychiatric mental health clinical nurse specialist or psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, depending upon the state in which you work. In that case, you’ll need a master’s degree or a doctoral degree in nursing. You may also pursue certification from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. 

Learn more with Coursera

Psychiatric nurses are responsible for helping individuals and communities suffering from some of the most impactful, but far too often hidden, health conditions – mental health. If you’re considering a career in mental health nursing, you might consider taking a cost-effective, online course through Coursera to deepen your knowledge of mental health and psychiatric care.

In the University of Sydney's Positive Psychiatry and Mental Health course, you'll explore different aspects of good mental health as well as learn about the major kinds of mental disorders, their causes, treatments, and how to seek help and support.