Community Mental Health Nurse

1.) The most unique aspect of psychiatric and community mental health nursing is in the comprehensive level of trust and rapport found within the nurse/patient relationship. This is because in this particular field of nursing, the pains and wounds of the patient are not as tangible or visibly evident such as broken bone or head laceration. Working as a community mental health nurse encompasses the use of more psychoanalytic and interpersonal theories to help assess and evaluate the person (or population at large). Psychiatric nursing definitely requires a slightly different skill sets in working with the mentally ill. According to Cleary (2003), for many nurses, one-to-one work within the therapeutic relationship was considered to be the cornerstone

Typically, a mental health nurse will have complete a program of study in mental health and is employed at inpatient psychiatric hospitals, day treatment centers, mental health facilities and hospital psychiatric units. According to Kudless & White (2007), the comprehensive responsibilities of a psychiatric nurse can include management of psychiatric medications, psychotherapy assessments, case managements, clinical supervision as well as education and research in the mental health field. Various psychological interventions that the nurse can utilize for the psychiatric patient is group therapies such as milieu therapy, crisis intervention protocols for patients at risk for suicide, encouragement of relaxation therapies such as massage, visual imagery, meditation, and seeking out counseling agencies for those mental ill patients who require anger and aggression management programs. In addition, as the trend of the mental health population encompasses more chronic and comorbid issues, mental health nurses will have to adjust their role to address broader mental health issues within the community setting (Kudless & White, 2007). There will be a greater focus on policy development and social advocacy for the mental ill

Other mental health issues that can be addressed by the psychiatric nurse are general anxiety disorders, eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia, and special populations such as rape survivors, abuse or battered women