Psychiatric and mental health nursing

Kennedy (JFK) signed into law the Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act of 1963 (CMHCA). The law was intended to deinstitutionalize patients from mental health hospitals and demonstrate a compromise between public health and medical practice models (Cameron, 1989). The law offered States financial incentives to build community-based outpatient centers to replace hospitals (Cameron, 1989). Due to the complexity of public health and treatment, the law…

The psychiatric population is a special populations group that the health care community has failed from the beginning of medicine. Mental illness covers a spectrum from depression to schizophrenia. The mental health community is often associated with maladaptive behaviors that have created a negative stigma in health care. This negative stigma has promoted less than stellar care from health care providers. The lack of resources in the community and area hospitals continues to…

Dr. Phil Barker started in the healthcare industry as a nursing assistant in the late 1960’s. He took the job in order to pay off debts not knowing that it would become his life’s work. He fell in love with healthcare, taking a special interest in mental health, where he worked as a nurse for over thirty-five years. After receiving his PhD in psychiatric nursing, Barker became the first professor of psychiatric nursing practice in the United Kingdom. Dr. Barker, alongside his wife Poppy…

patient in the sense of chemical restraints but by attempting to use alternative that do not work, such as placing someone at the nursing station to be watched over applying a lap belt. Restraint-free companies also raise mental distress to the patient’s family and may even put them at risk. Imagine walking into a facility to visit a parent, who is sitting at the nursing station most of the day with nothing to do but watch people pass by. The first reaction is going to be to take them to their…

they are a Psychiatric nurse”, or it was before taking Mental Health. The summer one of my roommates at my internship was in psych and I remember thinking the whole summer that she was absolutely nuts for loving it, and telling her that it takes a special kind of nurse to do psych. By the end of the short reading, I was actually really touched. I was thinking what it would feel like to be the nurse in those situations. I still think it takes a special kind of nurse to do psych nursing, but…

Analysis Sandra’s mental illness, bipolar affective disorder, also known as manic depression, is a common psychiatric disorder (Otto 2011). Bipolar disorder often includes natural periods of remission but commonly relapses if adherence treatment is poor (Grande et al 2016). As shown in Sandra’s case, bipolar affective disorder is characterised by both manic and depressive episodes that is severe enough to cause substantial personal distress, impairment to daily living, social functioning and…

Risk Assessment in Mental Health Mental health services can manage risk and safety more effectively by involving service users in planning for safety. However, conventional clinical techniques of risk assessment are obstacles to creating normal and risk-free physical life for admitted and recovering mental health patients (Ratnayake, 2010). It is recommended that mental service givers and patients should work jointly to develop and implement effective risk management plans for mentally ill…

system in America relating mental health. The author looks at mental health care in prisons, judicial system, police force, support groups, and a variety of people with close ties to the mental health community. He dives deep into how mental health is dealt with in our country. Throughout the book, he shines light on the problems and areas needed for improvement in mental health. From a nursing standpoint, the book made me realize how important it is for people with mental health to be compliant…

another field of nursing and how the skills of the health professionals in that field of nursing are used for caring for patients. Paediatric nursing involves working with sick and vulnerable patients from birth through to adolescent they are specialised in caring for children. Paediatric nursing entails skills that are similar to that of other branches of nursing such as communication skills and listening skills however some of the skills that paediatric nursing entails are…

absolute best medicine, laughter is certainly known to have some health benefits. Studies have found that laughter causes “physiological, psychological, social, spiritual, and quality-of-life benefits” with no adverse effects, and there are not many medications that can do that (Mora-Ripoll, 2010). We chose to design a health promotion campaign that aims to improve the mental health of university students by using laughter. The goal of health promotion is to provide information, motivation, and…