The Leadership Role of Nurse Educators in Mental Health Nursing

Leadership behaviors and actions influence others to act, and leadership in clinical practice is an important mediator influencing patient outcomes and staff satisfaction. Indeed, positive clinical leadership has been positioned as a crucial element for transformation of health care services and has led to the development of the Practice Doctorate Movement in the United States. Nurse educators in health care have a vital leadership role as clinical experts, role models, mentors, change agents, and supporters of quality projects. By enacting these leadership attributes, nurse educators ensure a skilled and confident workforce that is focused on optimizing opportunities for students and graduates to integrate theory and practice in the workplace as well as developing more holistic models of care for the consumer. Nurse educators need to be active in supporting staff and students in health care environments and be visible leaders who can drive policy and practice changes and engage in professional forums, research, and scholarship. Although nurse educators have always been a feature of the nursing workplace, there is a paucity of literature on the role of nurse educators as clinical leaders. This discursive article describes the role and attributes of nurse educators with a focus on their role as leaders in mental health nursing. We argue that embracing the leadership role is fundamental to nurse educators and to influencing consumer-focused care in mental health. We also make recommendations for developing the leadership role of nurse educators and provide considerations for further research such as examining the impact of clinical leaders on client, staff, and organizational outcomes.     

The Role of the Community Health Nurse in Environmental Health

Abstract Chemical contamination in the environment is affecting public health in increasing numbers of communities across the country. Although historically and theoretically well within the realm of nursing, methods for assessing and diagnosing threats to community environmental health are not being included in community health nurses' training. A community's environmental health is assessed by retrieving information from federal, state, and local sources. Developing the diagnosis involves four steps: identifying a community aggregate at highest risk of exposure, determining the potential or actual health response, citing related host and environmental factors, and correlating any existing epidemiologic data that may substantiate the nursing diagnosis. To illustrate these concepts, a systematic environmental health assessment was conducted for Douglas, Arizona. The results indicated elevated lead levels in residential soils and led to the community diagnosis, potential for injury: children in Douglas are at risk of developing adverse neurobehavioral health effects, and pregnant women in Douglas are at risk of developing adverse reproductive health effects related to several environmental and host factors, as evidenced by average blood lead levels in children exceeding the Centers for Disease Control recommended level of 10 μ/dl.     

Restructuring the Role of School Nurse in Health Promotion

For more than two decades an enduring relationship between years of formal schooling and improved health status has been emerging as noteworthy. School nurses are currently in place to focus more attention on refining how this relationship can be maximized in clinical practice. A brief review of the theoretical framework, modeling and role-modeling, is presented, including application to a case study depicting how the school nurse used theory-driven nursing process for health promotion.     

The Role of the Nurse‐Physician Leadership Dyad in Implementing the Baby‐Friendly Hospital Initiative

The concept of the nurse‐physician leadership dyad incorporates the expertise of both nurses and physicians as leaders of change within health system environments. The leadership dyad model has been used traditionally in health care administrative settings to manage utilization of resources more effectively. Because the Baby‐Friendly designation requires major cultural shifts in long‐standing maternity care practices, an interdisciplinary approach to implementation is necessary.     

Caring for Vulnerable Populations: Role of Academic Nurse – Managed Health Centers in Educating Nurse Practitioners

Vulnerable populations, including the uninsured, immigrants, and working poor, are at greater risk of developing health problems. Historically, nurse practitioners (NPs) have cared for this growing population. Care of these vulnerable patients requires a specific set of skills for optimum effectiveness. This article identifies the unique educational needs of NP students working with vulnerable populations in resource-scarce settings and makes recommendations for augmenting NP education to increase students' sensitivity and skill, including the use of academic nurse–managed health centers. A case study shows the NP skill development necessary in caring for these populations.     

Mental Health Needs of Children in School Role of the Child Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse

This article addresses the mental health needs of children in the school system. Children are often exposed to situations in their lives that affect their ability to master developmental and academic tasks resulting in school difficulties. The school system has the opportunity to provide primary prevention and early intervention that will promote the mental health of children. The role of the child psychiatric mental health nurse in the school is described as one model for promoting the mental health of children.     

The Nurse Practitioner's Role

Decisional incapacity is the inability to make decisions for oneself caused by mental or physical impairment. With technologic advances in health care and the growing proportion of elderly in American society, the problem of decisional incapacity occurs more frequently. In the past, medical decision making was based on the principle of beneficence, and the judgment of others was used to determine medical interventions. The current trend is to base decisions as much as possible on the principle of patient autonomy. Advance directives allow for the greater use of this principle.
The primary care nurse practitioner (NP) can take an active role in promoting patient autonomy by helping the adult patient plan for decisional incapacity. By including the value history as a routine part of the health history, the NP can help patients identify their beliefs, values, and attitudes about health care. This documented value history can then be used to provide evidence of a patient's wishes should he or she become decisionally incapacitated.     

Toward Healthy People 2000: The Role of the Nurse Practitioner and Health Promotion

The central purpose of Healthy People 2000 is to increase the proportion of Americans who live long and healthy lives. The best health promotion strategies are those related to individual lifestyle, and include personal choices made in a social context that have a significant influence over one's health. The primary lifestyle activities include: physical activity; nutrition; alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use; family planning; and violent and abusive behavior. Nurse practitioners play a significant role in promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors in their patients. This article presents an innovative teaching strategy used to teach health promotion concepts and intervention strategies to nurse practitioner students. The course design follows a clinical protocol format, which facilitates translation to clinical practice.