Creating Awareness of Psychiatric Nursing

Purpose Increase knowledge of mental/behavioral health triumphs and challenges, increase nursing engagement in the field, and positively affect patient outcomes.

Objectives  Professional and Community Outreach  Media Campaigns  Evidence Based Practice/Infographics

Perspective  Number of licensed and working nursing professionals ( )  Source: Georgetown University Center on Education and Workforce (CEW)

Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing  Roles for PMHN  Work with individuals, families, groups & communities  Assess mental health needs  Develop nursing diagnoses  Plan, implement and evaluate care  Promote and foster health

Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing  Roles for PMH-APRN  Assess, diagnose and treat  Utilize medications, psychotherapy & therapeutic skills

Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing  Settings

Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing  Issues/Barriers Lack of training Social stigma Perceived working conditions

Lack of Training  NCLEX has few mental health specific questions which results in less focus during school  Concept based teaching in which only a small amount of mental health is integrated  Informal survey of college curriculum showed a max of 16 hours of lecture on mental health & 8-40 hours of clinical observation  Observation occurs in a variety of mental health settings- rarely consecutive location  Students get only a brief overview, not a true understanding of the mental health nurse role

Lack of Training  Mental Health instructors feel they must “fight” to stay relevant  Some instructors teaching Mental Health have no background in the field  Historically, specialty units (including psychiatric) didn’t accept new graduates – this is changing  Myth of needing to work in a med/surg area prior to entering the psych field  AP role ambiguous and varied

Social Stigma  Stigma of mental illness can reflect onto mental health nurses  Manic, violent, dangerous  Most outrageous cases garner most media coverage  Psychiatric nursing rated least preferred of 10 specialties  Psychiatric nurses were least likely to be described as skilled, logical, dynamic and respected

Working Perceptions  Recovery can be a slow process – don’t often see dramatic changes or quick successes  Workplace violence and fear  Frustration over lack of support for patients leading to treatment relapse and readmission

Recommendations

 Recognize nurses as essential human resources for mental health care  Vital role  Ability to perform wide variety of functions  Ability to provide care in multiple settings  Inclusion in development of policy

Recommendations  Ensure adequate numbers of trained nurses are available to provide behavioral health  Data is essential How many nurses are in behavioral health positions? How many nurses are needed today? How many nurses will be needed in 5 years? 10 years? Beyond?

Recommendations  Incorporate stronger mental health component into nursing education  Required prerequisite  Essential for holistic approach to wellness  Ensure educators are adequately trained

Recommendations  Promote a positive image of mental health nursing  Continue to kick the stigma of mental illness for patients and nurses  Become a louder voice of advocacy – always speak up  Ensure mental illness is given parity and treated the same as physical illness

Get Involved  Visit the website   Join a conference call and a task force  Speak up (at work, in your community, etc)!

Resources    GeorgetownU.pdf   Halter, MJ. Perceived Characteristics of Psychiatric Nurses: Stigma by Association. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing Feb2008; 22(1):  Happell, B; Byrne, L; Platania, C et al. Lived-Experience Participation in Nursing Education: Reducing Stigma and Enhancing Popularity. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing Oct 2014, 23(5):