Mental health nursing
Mental health nurses receive specific training in psychological therapies, building a therapeutic alliance, dealing with challenging behaviour, and the administration of psychiatric medication.
Marcus Tullius Cicero, in particular, was the first known person to create a questionnaire for the mentally ill using biographical information to determine the best course of psychological treatment and care.
[2] In 13th century medieval Europe, psychiatric hospitals were built to house the mentally ill, but there were not any nurses to care for them and treatment was rarely provided.
Individuals with mental defects that were deemed as dangerous were incarcerated or kept in cages, maintained and paid fully by community attendants.
[5] The concept of a safe asylum, proposed by Philippe Pinel and William Tuke, offered protection and care at institutions for patients who had been previously abused or enslaved.
He proposed giving the "keepers of the insane" better pay and training so more respectable, intelligent people would be attracted to the profession.
In his 1836 publication of Treatise on Insanity, he openly stated that an established nursing practice calmed depressed patients and gave hope to the hopeless.
[3] However, psychiatric nursing was not formalized in the United States until 1882 when Linda Richards opened Boston City College.
Expanded roles were also developed in the 1960s allowing nurses to provide outpatient services such as counseling, psychotherapy, consultations, prescribing medications, along with the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses.
Spiritual interventions focus on developing a sense of meaning, purpose, and hope for the person in their current life experience.
Spiritual interventions tend to be based on qualitative research and share some similarities with the humanistic approach to psychotherapy.
[15] In practice, this means that the nurse should seek to engage with the person in care in a positive and collaborative way that will empower the patient to draw on his or her inner resources in addition to any other treatment they may be receiving.
[15] The most important duty of a psychiatric nurse is to maintain a positive therapeutic relationship with patients in a clinical setting.
The fundamental elements of mental health care revolve around the interpersonal relations and interactions established between professionals and clients.
When subjected to fierce personal attacks, the psychiatric nurse retained the desire and ability to understand the patient.
Seeing people as individuals with lives beyond their mental illness is imperative in making patients feel valued and respected.
[19] Minor activities, such as shopping, reading the newspaper together, or taking lunch or dinner breaks with patients can improve the quality of support provided.
[19] Psychiatric nurses in Berg and Hallberg's study described an element of a working relationship as comforting through holding a patient's hand.
[17] Physical touch is intended to comfort and console patients who are willing to embrace these sensations and share mutual feelings with nurses.
[24] In his article about pivotal moments in therapeutic relationships, Welch found that nurses must be in accordance with their values and beliefs.
Schafer and Peternelj-Taylor [20] believe that a nurses 'genuineness' is determined through the level of consistency displayed between their verbal and non-verbal behaviour.
[28] Multiple authors found genuine emotion, such as tearfulness, blunt feedback, and straight talk facilitated the therapeutic relationship in the pursuit of being open and honest.
Participating in activities that do not make one person more dominant over the other, such as talking about a mutual interest or getting lunch together strengthen the levels of equality shared between professionals and patients.
[30] To develop a quality therapeutic relationship, nurses need to make patients feel respected and important.
Family nurse practitioners (FNPs) are typically expected to evaluate and treat pediatric patients struggling with their mental health.
[citation needed] In Ireland, mental health nurses undergo a 4-year honors degree training programme.
Then, one must complete one year of graduate studies in psychiatric/mental health nursing (60 higher education credits), which also includes writing a MSc (Master of Science) thesis.
However, unlike in countries such as the US, there is no psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner, so in Sweden, the profession cannot for example prescribe pharmacological treatment.
RMNs can continue into further training as Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANPs): this requires completion of a 9-month Master's programme.
The role includes prescribing medications, being on call for hospital wards and delivering psychosocial interventions to clients.
