Nursing Role to Psychiatric Nursing_Riri

Psychiatric nurses are vital members of the mental health team. They actively direct and evaluate client responses to stress across the life span. Their continuous monitoring of clients experiencing crises further employs the nurse's input to intervene and create environments that minimize maladaptive responses and promote mental health. The impact of these interventions on client outcomes is often minimized by psychiatric nurses and other mental health professionals.

The role of psychiatric nursing stems from its responsibility in promoting and restoring mental health. Primary prevention can be used to identify high-risk groups and provide health education. the nurse can intervene at this stage by using secondary prevention to restore health and to halt the disease process or deterioration.

Secondary prevention can be initiated during an acute phase on inpatient, emergency departments, or homeless shelters. As clients respond to interventions and health is restored, the psychiatric nurse is concerned with preventing deleterious effects of mental illness. this stage is reffered to as tertiary prevention.

The role of the nurse in tertiary prevention is to prevent disability and promote rehabilitation and health maintenance. Aftercare programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and Cocaine Anonymous are examples of tertiary programs. Nurses may also be involved in education programs for the mentally ill and focus on medication compliance, dual diagnoses, stress management, and coping skills.

Role of psychiatric nursing:
1. Medical Duties
A nurse in a psychiatric setting helps to implement the plan of care, as set forth by the doctor and follows his treatment orders. She'll be helping the patient with everyday care. She will administer medications to the patient as orderd, as needed. As she takes care of the patient, she should be careful to chart every detail of her interactions with and observations of patients of patients, as well as vital medical information, so that the doctor and other staff can make objective decisions concerning that patient's care, having been educated as to his progress, or lack thereof. She will most likely be reporting, in person, on the patient's care to both doctors and other nursing staff, as needed, for the best care possible.


2. Nursing Care Plan
As the nurse cares for each of her patients, she will examine him and institute a plan of care, coming up with certain nursing diagnoses and care plans for each diagnosis. This helps to form a well-rounded nursing relationship with each patient as she seeks the best for each one. These plans depend on each patient's specific problem and is tailored to each patients's special needs.


3. Demeanor

4. Patient Educator
Of corse, as nurse, she should not only fulfill the medical side of the care plan, but she also needs to educate her patients and their families. This education can extend from the most basic care to teaching the patient about the medications they are taking and their condition. They will ask questions and she should make sure she has researched and studied and listened, so that she can give them the correct information. She might even teach a group of patients about certain techniques or subjects within mental health. it all depends on where she works and her job responsibilities.

5. Patient Advocate
It is also the nurse's job to stand up for her patient's rights as individuals. If she notices a mistake or something that just doesn't seem right in the patient's treatment plan, she should first study it and then approach the doctor. Many mistakes have been corrected because of an observant nurse. If someone has taken advantage of the patient or even abused the patient in some way, this too needs to be reported. If the patient has any kind of problems, it's the nurse's job to report these to the doctors in charge. The nurse is the one who will see the patient the most often and who will get to know the patients get the best care possible.

6. Care Manager
Nurses in this role assess patients and develop treatment plans, coordinate resources an cera provided by others. The Care Manager also manages patient needs and resources episodeically and is skilled in managing psychiatric rehabilitation as well relapse prevention.

7. Assessment, Evaluation, Triage and Referral Nurse
In this role, the nurse evaluates patients in direct encounters or by telephone in order to triage the patient to the most appropriate level of care, including referrals to credentialed providers, contracted facilities and community resources.

8. Utilization Review Nurse
Many managed care companies employ psychiatric nurses to function as utilization reviewers in wich they review aspects of the patient's care and influences decisions about treatment assignment. In this role they serve as "gatekeepers" to mental health services.

9. Risk Manager
Nurses who work as risk managers are charged with the task of decreasing the probability of adverse outcomes related to patient care. They engage in identifying risk factors, individual and system-wide problems, corrective actions and the implementation of strategies to reduce risk and prevent loss.

10. Chief Quality Officer
Nurse have assumed primary responsibility for formulating and implementing comprehensive quality management and improvement programs for managed care companies. They engage in training other staff on-site and synthesize data related to performance improvement, outcomes management and other health services research activities.

11. Marketing and Development Specialist
Some psychiatric nurses work in the managed care growth areas of sales (proposal writing), marketing and program development. In this roles, they interface with consumers, employers, providers and regulators adn they make recommendations for furthering the mission and goals of the managed care organization.

12. Corporate Managers and Executives
Psychiatric nurses are also present in middle management positions, as well as senior management positions where they participate in the development of corporate policy and strategic planning. Nurses hold positions in various departments including: Provider Relations, Quality Management, Care Management/Clinical Operations and Clinical/Medical Affairs.