Psychiatric nursing, the evolving role in mental health

Abstract

Psychiatric nursing is a nursing specialty focusing on the fulfilment of the client's needs in mental health in any setting, in partnership with family, significant others and the community. Psychiatric nursing is an intelpersonal process that promotes and maintains patients' behaviour that results in an integrated functioning of the individual. Stuatt and Laraia state that the patient can be an individual, family, group, organisation or the community at large. This obviously implies that the role of the psychiatric nurse is very vast and a cleat· definition of the role depends on the situation and circumstances the nurse is in. This ranges from a psychiatric emergency in an acute admission ward to a talk given by the psychiatric nurse to the general public on post natal depression. The work of psychiatric nurses is divided into high and low visibility functions. Brown and Fowler) identified these functions.