Role of Nursing in Mental Health Assessment

Role of Nursing in Mental Health Assessment

Introduction

Mental health care is a critical constituent of health care. Nursing is one of the most important departments in a medical institutions and a health care organization. Nursing is one of the most important departments in a medical institutions and a health care organization. It plays a significant role in rendering health improvement and betterment services for the patients. Nurses, being one of the core health-care providers, are required to be capable to put up mental health care efficiently. For most countries, mental health nursing is a vital matter. Nurses are often the key contributors of care for individuals with mental disorders. A critical role can be played by nurses in catering appropriate, effective and timely services to individuals with mental health problems, and can also support in maintaining their patients' human rights at healthcare centers and in society generally. These days, the profession of nursing has improved a great deal due to the introduction of modern technology and advanced services. Latest equipments and new medicines have provided cure and care services for the mentally ill people as well.

Role of nursing in mental health assessment is significant to the quality care of patients, contributive to imperative clinical tasks encompassing the risk evaluation, health and discharge appropriateness (Hamilton & Manias 2007, Godin 2004). Rather than recognized assessment models and decision aids, the assessment practices of psychiatric nurses are determined more by experiential, inferred knowledge. (National Council for the Professional Development of Nursing and Midwifery 2006, Murphy et al. 2000, Spenceley et al. 2008)

Assessment is regarded as the relevance of nursing knowledge to assessment and decision-making for specific clinical functions. Substantial ambiguity and likelihood for inaccuracy is involved in the task setting of mental health assessment (Garb 1998, Abayomi & Hackett 2004). An adaptative response to these conditions may well rely on experiential knowledge, but its discerning foundation is not apparent or framed as research evidence (Benner et al. 1999, Bowers et al. 2000, Trenoweth 2003).

Rationale and Justification for the Proposed Study

Assessment is the basis for the deliverance of nursing care. The objective of the proposed study is to better comprehend the subject matter (what information is sought out by nurses from consumers) and the course of action (how that information is gathered by them) of a broad mental health assessment entailed by nurses in practice.

The rationale for carrying out this study is that other than assessment of risk or carer burden, so far, not much has been done in the context of role of nursing in both content and process of a broad spectrum mental health assessment. A comprehensive assessment, in Australia, is enacted as a capability to practice nursing; nonetheless, for mental health nurses, the standards of practice set are less apparent on what comprises an all-inclusive assessment or the way through which it should be set about.

This study is intended to dig into the best practices of nursing that have a positive impact and input in the mental ...