Psychiatric Nursing Practice
December 23, 2008 by Rn2b
Filed under Clinical Nurse (CNS), General Nurse Information
Psychiatric Nursing Practice
John Hopkins was the first school of nursing to include a course in psychiatric nursing in its curriculum. The first psychiatric nursing practice was primarily custodial and focused on nutrition, hygiene and activity.
The role of psychiatric nurses expanded as physical therapies for the treatment of mental disorders were developed. Treatments such as insulin shock therapy, psychosurgery and electroconvulsive therapy required nurses to use their medical-surgical skills more extensively.
Psychiatric nursing practice’s areas of concern pertaining to actual or potential mental health problems are some of the following – problems related to emotions such as anxiety, anger, loneliness and grief and behaviors and mental states that indicate that the client is a danger to self or others.
To sum it all, a psychiatric-mental health nurse collects client health data, analyzes the data, develops a plan of care that prescribes interventions to attain outcomes and implements them in the plan of care. Other responsibilities involve counseling interventions to assist clients in improving or regaining their coping abilities, fosters mental health and preventing mental illness and disability.
Psychiatric nurses as therapists are particularly suited to working with those with severe mental illness in the context of daily activities, focusing on the here and now to meet each person’s psychosocial needs. In time, psychiatric nursing practice was institutionalized and added to nursing curricula. Standards of care of clients were developed and practiced.
When legal problems arise, these professional standards are used to determine safe and acceptable practice and to assess the quality of care.
Case Management Nursing: An Approach to Community Health
December 23, 2008 by Rn2b
Filed under Becoming a Nurse, Clinical Nurse (CNS), General Nurse Information
In addition to considering the needs of populations, the community health nurse is prepared to provide direct care services to subpopulations within a community. These subpopulations may be a clinical focus in which the nurse has gained expertise.
Case management nursing is a nursing approach that merges knowledge from the public health sciences with professional nursing theories to safeguard and improve the health of populations in the community. An example of this is a case manager who follows older adults recovering from stroke and sees the need for community rehabilitation services. A nurse practitioner who gives immunizations to clients with the objective of managing communicable diseases within the community is also one.
The community health nurse cares for the community as a whole and considers the individual or family to be only one member of a group at risk. Competence as a case management nursing professional requires the ability to use interventions that take into account the broad social and political context in which the community problems occur and are resolved.
The educational requirements for entry-level nurses practicing in community health nursing roles are not as clear-cut as those for public health nurses. An advanced degree may not be required. However, nurses with a graduate degree in nursing who practice in community settings are considered community health nurse specialists, regardless of their public health experience.
The expert community health nurse understands the needs of a community through experience with individual families and working through their social and health care issues.
Your First Job as a Nurse
December 11, 2008 by Rn2b
Filed under Clinical Nurse (CNS), Finding Your Nursing Job
As a neophyte to the career, nursing students must be well oriented to the nature of their first jobs as true and professional nurses. Nursing and becoming a nurse need extensive support from the school you were into. Students must be properly guided with all the undertakings a novice nurse should encounter. Have a mindset of your own. If you don’t want to fail in your first job and get disappointment as well, consider the following factors before pursuing on to the job:
1. The nature and background of the employer and the company. Turn- over rates can indicate the efficiency of the employer to new nurses. Do not hesitate to ask about the turn-over rates of the employers. 20% or higher turnovers are significantly acceptable.
2. Orientation from the company. This will indicate how effective the company can guide you through your first years as a nurse. Preceptor programs are likewise must be observed. Preceptors are mentors for first time nurses to familiarize themselves with the hospital setting including standard procedures, use of equipments and hospital routines. He or she must be helpful in assisting you towards your first years.
3. Ask about support on adjusting to the nature of the job especially conquering emotional stress.
4. Observe on the totality of the hospital’s system. This will give you a closer look on the overall nature of the company. This will also provide you with the idea of the flow of the work.
5. Ask if you are going to be assigned in a specialty unit first. Specialty units can prepare the first time nurse to handle a broader sense of the nursing profession. Nursing and becoming a nurse must undergo a level on the intensity of tasks.
6. Ask yourself if you are really ready for the job. Nursing and becoming a nurse have to prepare you as a competitive and well- rounded nurse.