Two years ago my life and career completely changed when I decided to enter the world of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing. This career change made me develop a passion for mental Health Nursing and brought out traits in me to continue helping patients reach mental stability and overall well-being. Mental Health Nursing is a combination of improving the patient’s emotional, psychosocial, and social well-being. Mental health is needed to go through any ordinary day in life. It affects how all of us cope with stress, how we interact with other people, and how we make choices. Working in the borderland has made me realize that mental health affects all ethnicities of every age and is an illness that is constantly growing. I want to become a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner because there is a passion within me to help psychiatric patients, and I am motivated to make a change in people in need of help with their mental illness. I want to give them an opportunity to live a normal life. …show more content…
My plan was to continue to become an Emergency room Nurse after my graduation. The Emergency room I worked for had a section for Mental health Emergencies, at this time I discovered how complex and in need of help the Psychiatric patient was. Through my psychiatric rotation in school is when I really noticed the care and attention these patients need. I noticed that I naturally felt comfortable with them and at the same time I enjoyed it. Every day I wanted to learn more about the patient’s illness and experiences they have gone through. I was eager to find out how the patient was going to receive treatment through a pharmaceutical and therapeutically
Psychiatric nursing has always been my passion and I am ready to put my experience and leadership skills to use and further my career as a Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. The psychiatric population is underserved and one of my goals is to continue working in fields others will not. I have always longed for the increased autonomy and decision making Nurse Practitioners use. Broken systems and burnt out mental health workers are a problem. For example, calling an on call physician in a patient crisis only to be given an order for something that is completely useless by a physician who does not care, has always bothered me. I look up to the Nurse Practitioners at work and have always noticed their kind, caring and responsive nature. I want
Mental health nurses are exposed, due a lack of community support, low staffing levels, stigma and client pressures including the risk of violence, The increasing number of mental health patient compare to the decreasing number of beds and capable staff, means that mental health nurses are spending less time per patient and potentially providing a minimum quality of care level , Moreover, mental health nurses are dealing with caring for patients in inappropriate settings, with a reduced level of ,all factors leading to an increase in stress and burnout (Barling, 2001, p. 252; MHCA, 2005, p. 3)
There are so many types of mental illnesses that affect people every day. When some people think of mental illnesses they think of the ones that would cause people to have physical symptoms as well, but that’s untrue, there are many more that you would never know anyone has if you were to see them on the street. As defined by the 2008 encyclopedia “a mental illness is any disease of the mind or brain that seriously affects a person’s ability or behavior. Symptoms of a mental illness may include extreme moods, such as excessive sadness or anxiety, or a decreased ability to think clearly or remember well.” A mentally ill person has severe symptoms that damage the person’s ability to function in everyday activities and situations. Every nation and every economic level can be affected by a mental illness. In the United States alone about 3% of the population has severe mental illness and to add to that number about 40% of people will experience a type of mental illness at least once in their lives. Some cases of mental illnesses can go away on their own, but some cases are so severe that they require professional treatment. There is so much more available to help people recover from their symptoms than in the past.
Rather than preparing graduates in education or consulting as previous graduate nursing programs had done, this program educated psychiatric-mental health nurses as therapists with the ability to assess and diagnose mental health issues as well as psychiatric disorders and treat them via individual, group, and family therapy (ANA, 2014). Thus, the Psychiatric Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist (PMH-CNS), one of the initial advanced practice nursing roles (Schmidt, 2013), was born. After Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963 led to deinstitutionalization of individuals with mental illness, PMH-CNSs played a crucial role in reintegrating formerly institutionalized individuals back into community life (ANA, 2014). PMH-CNSs have been providing care in a wide range of setting and obtaining third-party reimbursement since the late 1960’s. In 1974 a national certification for PMH-CNSs was created (APNA, 2010). Subsequently, PMH-CNSs began to be granted prescriptive privileges in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1970s, that practice has now spread to 37 states and the District of Columbia (APNA,
Mental health disparities, “the power imbalances that impact practices influencing access, quality, and outcomes of behavioral health care, or a significant disparity in the overall rate of disease incidence, prevalence, morbidity, mortality, or survival rate in a specific group of people defined along racial and ethnic lines, as compared with the general population” (Safran, 2011). Although there are many mental health care dipartites, I’m going to focus on the impact of poverty and lack of attention given to mental health. By advocating for a prevention, promotion, and intervention related to mental health, will aid in minimizing mental health disparities. Not only is it important to advocate on a macro level, but it is important to educate
Mental health in nursing fraternity refers to a range of experiences and situations that a particular person can feel both physically and mentally. Mental health is a general term which incorporates a continuum from the most severe disorders to a variety and common mental health problems and mild symptoms of different intensity and duration. (Thomas, 2016) The clear definition of mental health can be attributed to one’s life context and experience. It is usually influenced by religious beliefs, social class race, gender as well as experience of family life.
The Mental Health Nurse (MHN) role has changed over the last thirty years with scientific experiences suggesting that modern MHNs have further autonomy (Whittington & McLaughlin, 2000). Models of nursing have been offered throughout the history as pathways to empowering practice between the MHNs and service users. The Tidal Model
The nurse who chooses to return to school is secure, is not afraid to face change, and views education as preparation for the future (Altmann, 2011). Nonetheless, returning to school can cause disruption, which may lead to feelings of self-doubt. Developing coping strategies helps to alleviate these concerns. Personally, the decision to continue my nursing education revolves around my job. As an advocate for the mental health population, I want to become a leader who influences the future of mental health services in our region; education will help me achieve these goals.
In the real world deciding on what you want to do for the rest of your life can be scary and most certainly confusing. There are over thousands of different careers and lifestyles that could suit you. How do you know if you have chosen the right one? The idea of patients with mental disorders being kept in institutions did not become popular until the 17th century (“Psychiatric Nurses” Volume 5 150). A career such as Psychiatric Nurse Partitioning has its pros and cons, but the journey to becoming one is something that will miraculously change your life.
The opportunity to expand and refine my nursing knowledge has always equated to me attending the University of Alabama School of Nursing’s masters program. With their master’s degree programs earning the number one spot for Top 50 Best Value, the quality of the programs is undeniable. I selected to apply to the psychiatric mental health track because during my undergraduate studies, I realized this was a career worthy study. My brother was diagnosed with bipolar/schizophrenia at fifteen, and I always questioned his lack of motivation and self-care abilities. It was not until taking the Concepts of Behavioral Health Nursing, that I realized the existence of positive and negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia, and that apathy and learning disabilities were just as much a part of my brother’s illness as hallucinations or delusions. According to Akiko (2004) “Severity of negative symptoms was significantly associated with worse performance on attention/working memory,”(p. 750). With this
The mental health assessment is a crucial part in everyday nursing care as it evaluates an individual’s mental condition to assess for risk factors of mental illnesses and provide optimal care and treatment. Mental health is described as “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.” (CDC) If the patient not mentally healthy, they can develop mentally illnesses, which can affect treatment and the disease process of physical ailments because without mental health a person cannot be completely healthy. “Suicide Risk Assessment in High Risk Adolescents” is a nursing article that outlines suicide risk factors and prevention strategies for assist nurses in performing mental health assessments. Suicide, the act of
The Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP), role and job description is providing primary mental health care services, to those with mental health problems, or psychiatric disorders. The PMHNP is required to assess, diagnose, provide treatment plans, prescribe medication therapy, and offer counsel across the lifespan. The PMHNP provides care in a wide range of settings to children, adolescents, adults, the elderly, and their families. This mental healthcare takes place in the primary care settings, emergency rooms, hospitals, outpatient mental health clinics, senior living communities and in private practices. Being culturally competent to care for the ever changing demographics of the United States is necessary. The PMHNP assess and treats in a holistic manor and utilizes evidenced based practice. Regardless of race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, political persuasion, or socio economic standing the PMHNP is there to treat. The PMHNP role also includes establishing a therapeutic relationship, being sensitive to many abnormal behaviors, and caring for those frequently distressed emotionally. Collaboration and the ability to make referrals are essential for the PMHNP. Patients present with undiagnosed problems and establishing the proper diagnosis by a qualified PMHNP begins with the initial assessment interview (Gilfedder, Barron, & Docherty, 2010).
Archeological digs within the Babylonian, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian territories have unearthed trephined skulls. These artifacts serve as proof that mental illness and the treatment thereof dated back to 5000 BCE (Foerschner, 2010; Porter 10).
I have been restlessly questioning if our team has done everything possible to produce a long-lasting outcome for our patient population. I have been making many positive impacts on individual levels but how can I expand my spheres of influences to a population level? I find this question is intellectually challenging and pursuing the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) will be the pragmatic solution. As PMHNP, I will be equipped to bring a more holistic approach to prove the best comprehensive care rather than addressing a " current primary complaint" of a more complex problem. On a personal and professional level, I fiercely believed that mental illness and addiction are family's disease. One suffers, the rest suffer and I am motivated to cultivate a better understanding of mental health and to embrace a culture of kindness and empathy for those who suffer and their loved ones. The autonomy, prescriptive authority, diagnostic ability and psychotherapy skills that I gain from Maryville's Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner program will empower me to bring compassion and empathy back to the art of
Mental health refers to the state of individuals psychologically, emotionally and socially. Mental health affects a person’s emotions, feelings, thoughts, and sections when exposed to different situations. Furthermore, mental health is responsible for a person’s reaction to stress and other social conditions. Generally, mental health affects how a person relates to others and their ability to understand and interact with them. Therefore, problems that affect a person’s mental health affect the abilities to socialize, their feelings, moods, reaction to situations. The person experiencing mental health problem may portray different behaviors when confronted with different issues. Mental health issues have several