A Focus on Mental Health Care

Introduction

Nursing practice is largely focused on delivery of care to patients with diverse medical needs including mental health. Mental health care can be delivered to patients in the hospital and out of the hospital settings and is guided by professional standards of practice. Creating an online poster serves to communicate more information about the nursing practice. The nursing poster in this assignment will focus on key issued discussed herein.

The field of nursing has a rich history of 100 years of practice and counting. Professional practice of nursing is focused on patient-centred care with core values of conduct including respect to human dignity, and observance of human rights. Legislations and frameworks of practice such as the NMC code are in place to protect the nursing practice and ensure that cases such as negligence by nurses delivering care are effectively prosecuted. The other legislations include the NMC rules, 2004 and NMC order, 2008. The NMC code (2018) emphasizes key ethical principles in nursing practice such as justice, accountability and professionalism.

Behaviour theory underpins the principles of leadership in Nursing. According to the theory, effective leadership rely on key skills that should be in possession by the leader. In nursing practice, key leadership skills include effective decision making, organizational and planning skills as well as communication (NMC 2018; RCN 2017).

Mental health nursing is focused on alleviating various cases of mental illness exhibited by the patients. The main responsibilities of nurses include examining the patients and monitoring their progress, delivering focused care to the mental health patients and ensuring that the patients adhere to the treatment prescribed to them by the doctors. To achieve this, communication, listening, empathy and sympathy skills are crucial (NMC 2018). In multidisciplinary team, the scope of nursing practice entails adoption of holistic approaches to care, collaboration with other members and creating quality healthcare system (ARNNL 2006).

Mental health and nursing practice is largely shaped by culture and diversity in health care. Cultural diversities define among other things, how patients and nurses view health, their beliefs about the causes of diseases and the expression of pain. The code (NMC 2018) requires nurses to tailor care in line with the cultural beliefs of the patients and respecting the cultural diversities existing while offering care.

Presently, nursing care is evolving to include aspects of emotional intelligence and resilience in nursing practice (RCN 2017). Emotional intelligence involves recognising the emotions and feelings of the patients and offering tailored services by effectively managing the patient’s emotional aspects through its core elements; self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. If effectively used, emotional intelligence is believed to enhance the nurse-patient relationship and is specifically crucial in mental health practice. Resilience on the other hand entails the ability to adapt successfully to adversities, trauma, tragedies and threats. Nurses require resilience in order to optimally perform in the wake of such adversities and avoid burnouts (Rakesh et al, 2007). Risk assessment in mental health care emphasizes analysing the care delivery to recognise potential hazards and risks to safety and delivery of care to enhance a positive working environment for nursing practice (RCN 2017).

Continue your journey with our comprehensive guide to A Focus on International Students Library.

References

Association of Registered of Newfoundland and Labrador (ARNNL), 2006. Scope of Nursing Practice: Definition, Decision-Making and Delegation. Canada. Association of Registered of Newfoundland and Labrador

Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), 2018: the code; professional standards of practice and behaviour for nurses, midwives and nursing associates. London. Nursing and Midwifery Council

Rakesh G, Pier K, and Costales T. 2017. A Call for Action: Cultivating Resilience in Healthcare Providers, The American Journal of Psychiatry Residents’ Journal.

Royal College of Nursing (RCN), 2017: Three steps to positive practice; rights based approach when considering and reviewing the use of restrictive interventions. London. The royal college of nursing

Royal College of Nursing (RCN), 2016: Nursing past, present and future. Bolton. The royal college of Nursing, North West Region