Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing
The Psych Ward is one of the most memorable areas that nursing students will be exposed to during the time they spent in school. The exposure is met with apprehension and tales of students being injured by a patient do not help in alleviating said apprehension. It is only when the students step into the actual facilities that they realize – “This isn’t as bad as it was hyped up to be.” That is also the moment when a student first considers the fact that maybe; just maybe he/she may have a future as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse.
Roles of a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse
The role of a psych and mental health nurse is usually varied from institution to institution. Large units often have a lot of nurses assigned to specific tasks. In places like these, a nurse may be assigned to medication duty. Another one may be given the task of supervising patient ADL (Activities of Daily Living) and so on. Smaller institutions may require their nurses to perform all the basic tasks themselves.
Regardless of the type of institution - a Mental and Psychiatric health nurses basic roles are still those that revolve around patient care and well being.
The basic roles of a Psychiatric Mental Health nurse include being a direct care giver. Psych nurses often take care of patients who not only suffer from mental illness. Some psych patients have chronic conditions like Diabetes, Hypertension, and heart and kidney problems. These conditions require constant monitoring as well as their own set of medications. A psych nurse works by balancing a patient’s psych treatment with their other illnesses.
A Psychiatric Mental health nurse must also take on the role of counselor and therapist. Conversing with a psych patient should always be done therapeutically. This means that the nurse should always strive to improve his/her patient’s mental health. For example, a nurse is dealing with an anorexic or with a depressed patient. Their conversations should be aimed at allowing the patient express feeling and emotions. It should also be geared towards the patient’s acceptance of self and their flaws. Mental and Psych health nurses should also be therapeutic towards the patient’s families especially those who have co-dependency issues.
Nurses may also become Clinical Nurse Specialists in this field. These nurses often work as educators, researchers and specialists. Other roles involve being a nurse manager, supervisor, staff nurse and head nurse.
Screening and Debriefing
The Psychiatric Mental health nursing field is in a class of its own. Entering this field of practice is not as easy as a lot of nurses think. It’s not the same as working as a Critical Care Nurse, where you can leave psychiatrically and mentally unscathed. With CCN and other specialties, the depth of a nurse’s emotional involvement is limited to empathy or sympathy. But, with Psychiatric Mental Health nursing, there is a danger of deeper emotional and mental involvement.
Psychiatric Mental Health Nurses are required to undergo mental screening before they get exposed. Screening involves a series of Neuro-psych tests that help determine a nurse’s mental status. Nurses are also instructed to evaluate themselves and identify whether or not they have mental and emotional issues - Issues that could potentially interfere with a therapeutic patient interaction. Nurses are also warned against identifying themselves with the patient’s signs and symptoms. Mentally healthy nurses should be able to differentiate their own experience from their patient’s. Once they fail to do so, their capacity to interact with their patients therapeutically is compromised.
Debriefing is an important part of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing. Nurses assigned to violent and dangerously manipulative patients should undergo debriefing after every significant patient interaction. The debriefing process will help nurses get back to their previous mental states. It will also help them remain therapeutic when dealing with their patients.
It may seem like a lot to do, but most of the time screening is only done once or periodically. Debriefing on the other hand can be performed in as little as 10 minutes. Nurses can debrief on their own or together with colleagues. They may also choose to seek the aid of a psychiatrist is they had an extreme experience with a patient. Other than that, screening and debriefing are part of the Psychiatric Mental Nurse’s routine. These are steps that will help keep them mentally healthy. Thus, helping them remain helpful to their patients.
Published at: 02/18/2015
