Nursing Students’ Attitudes about Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing

The purpose of this study was to describe Masters entry nursing students’ attitudes about psychiatric mental health clinical experiences; preparedness to care for persons with mental illness; students’ perceived stigmas and stereotypes; and plans to choose mental health nursing as a career. A 31-item survey was administered to pre-licensure graduate nursing students who were recruited from a Masters entry nursing program from a university in a large city in the Midwestern US. Results indicated that clinical experiences provide valuable experiences for nursing practice, however, fewer students think that these experiences prepare them to work as a psychiatric mental health nurse and none plan to pursue careers as psychiatric mental health nurses. The findings support conclusions from other studies that increasing the amount of time in the clinical setting and adding specific content to the curriculum, particularly content related to the importance of psychiatric mental health nursing and the effects of stigma, may assist the profession's efforts to recruit and retain psychiatric mental health nurses. Further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of these strategies and to identify the best ways to implement them.     

It's the Anxiety: Facilitators and Inhibitors to Nursing Students’ Career Interests in Mental Health Nursing

Increasing the rate of recruitment of nursing students into mental health nursing (MHN) is vital to long-term sustainability of health care system support for people diagnosed with mental illness. However MHN is not a popular career path; this raises questions about what attitudes and beliefs may divert or attract students to this specialisation. The current research involved a survey of undergraduate nursing students at a regional university in Australia to clarify the nature of relationships between attitudes (e.g., the value of mental health nursing, stereotypes of people with mental illness) and how they may be antecedents to considering MHN as a career path. Through a structural equation model, it was ascertained that anxiety surrounding mental illness leads to less interest in MHN as a future career and suggests that anxiety is (a) partly due to negative stereotypes, and (b) countered by preparedness for a MHN role. Beliefs on how MHN can make a valuable contribution to people's well-being did not affect interest in pursuing MHN. These findings reconfirm the need to reduce anxiety about mental illness by educational approaches that effectively prepare students for MHN, combined with challenging negative stereotypes.     

Analysis on Mental Features and Nursing Countermeasures for Malignant Ovarian Tumor Patients

Malignant tumor has not only brought the enormous ago-ny to patient on the body,but also caused enormous psycho-logical pressure to patient psychologically,even more like thisto woman patient.And a lot of clinical evidences show:thepatient of the psycholo…     

Analysis on Mental Features and Nursing Countermeasures for Malignant Ovarian Tumor Patients

Objective To inquire into the mental features of malignant ovarian tumor patients and advance the way to appease the mental state. Methods The mental health status of 168 malignant ovarian tumor patients was evaluated using Symptom Checklist 90 （SCL-90）, and compared with that of normal crowd and other gynecologic malignant tumor patients. Results The scores of suppression, anxiety, fear, somatization, constrain, hostility, interpersonal relationship of the ovary malignant tumor patients were higher than those of the normal model, and the scores of suppression, anxiety, interpersonal relationship higher than those of other gynecologic malignant tumor patients. Conclusions To strengthen the nursing teaching, understand the mental state on time, use moral support therapy, and help the patients to change their inadequate attitude and behavior, can strengthen the therapy confidence and promote the health rehabilitation.     

The Impact of Mental Health Nursing Education on Undergraduate Nursing Students’ Attitudes to Consumer Participation

Consumer participation in all aspects of mental health service delivery, including the education of mental health professionals, is now a policy expectation in Australia. Whether education programs introducing nurses to mental health nursing lead to more favourable attitudes towards consumer participation is yet to be examined in pre-registration nursing programs in Australia. The current evaluation examined changes in scores for the Consumer Participation Survey for undergraduate nursing students (n = 68) in an Australian University. Data were analysed, using repeated measures t-test, to compare the pre- and post-test scores. There was a significant improvement in views on consumers participating as staff members. There were no statistically significant changes in attitudes towards consumer capacity and consumer involvement in care processes. Consumer participation in mental health care is now clearly articulated in Australian Government policy. For this to be successfully implemented a more comprehensive understanding of the ability of education to influence attitudes is required.     

Turning the Coin—Emphasizing the Opportunities in Mental Health Nursing

It is widely acknowledged that mental health nursing has undergone considerable change in Australia during recent decades, including the mainstreaming of mental health services into the general health care system. Recruitment problems and high levels of stress and burnout associated with the profession are seen to be indicative of a degree of demise in the status and desirability of this field of practice. However, new nursing roles have developed in response to these changes. The aim of this paper is to focus on three specific roles: mental health consultation-liaison nursing; mental health nurse practitioner; and the mental health nurse incentive program. These new roles present exciting and rewarding career opportunities for mental health nurses and may increase the attractiveness of mental health nursing for new graduates.     

Can Completing a Mental Health Nursing Course Change Students' Attitudes?

Nursing program graduates rarely choose mental health nursing as a career. A quasi-experimental study was conducted to examine attitudes of 310 nursing students towards persons with mental illness. Students completed surveys on the first and last days of their program's psychiatric mental health nursing course. The pre- and post-test survey analysis indicated that students improved their attitude, knowledge and preparedness to care for persons with mental illness. However, students maintained little interest in working as a mental health nurse. Modifications in mental health nursing courses could be made to improve students' interest in choosing a career in mental health nursing.     

What is Good Mental Health Nursing? A Survey of Irish Nurses

The practice, theory, and preparation associated with nursing people with mental health issues has changed in profound ways in recent decades. This has in part been reflected by a shift in nurses identifying as being mental health rather than psychiatric nurses. Context, theory, and values shape what it means to be a mental health nurse. Thirty experienced mental health nurses in Ireland completed a survey on what good mental health nursing is and a definition induced from their responses. Mental health nursing is a professional, client-centered, goal-directed activity based on sound evidence, focused on the growth, development, and recovery of people with complex mental health needs. It involves caring, empathic, insightful, and respectful nurses using interpersonal skills to draw upon and develop the personal resources of individuals and to facilitate change in partnership with the individual and in collaboration with friends, family, and the health care team. This appears to encapsulate the best of what it meant to be a psychiatric nurse, but challenges remain regarding how to reconcile or whether to discard coercive practices incompatible with mental health nursing.     

Mental Health Education and Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) in Pre-registration Nursing Degrees: Follow the Leaders?

Virtual learning environments (VLEs) are now commonly used, worldwide, as teaching and learning platforms for pre-registration nursing education. However, there is only limited evidence in the research literature to suggest that VLEs are employed to support the education of student nurses about mental health and illness. This article describes the work of mental health nurse educators who have taken the lead by providing case-based simulations on VLEs, thereby enabling students to acquire knowledge and develop the clinical skills required for practice in mental health settings. Benefits of VLEs include their flexibility and accessibility, and also the opportunity they provide for students to engage with Web 2.0 technologies. Leadership in education must include the utilization of the most current pedagogical tools and strategies, as well as staying abreast of contemporary evidence-based practices in clinical settings, to support the knowledge acquisition and practice-based learning of the registered nurses (RNs) of the future.     

Associate Degree Nursing Students’ Perceived Barriers to Baccalaureate Nursing Education and Intentions to Enroll in a Baccalaureate-only Nursing Environment

Although they are known to be nontraditional, studies have not addressed Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) students' choice of the ADN route to professional nursing practice. A survey of ADN students revealed perceived barriers to baccalaureate nursing education and that up to 37% would not have enrolled if the baccalaureate had been the minimum requirement to become registered nurses. The findings could provide information for more reasoned solutions toward the goal of advancing nurses' education.     

Access to Physical Health Care for People with Serious Mental Illness: A Nursing Perspective and a Human Rights Perspective-Common Ground?

Relative to the general population, people with serious mental illness (SMI) experience elevated risks of physical disease and illness and live shorter lives. A human rights perspective argues that people with serious mental illness have a right to equal access to physical health care. Nurses in mental health services can contribute to improving the availability and accessibility of physical health care. This study, involving focus group interviews with nurses in a large regional and rural mental health care district of Queensland, Australia, revealed significant problems in access to physical health care for service users. The current article reports on our exploratory analysis of nurses’ views and perceptions to identify (1) orientation of nurses to human rights, and (2) access of consumers with SMI to general practitioner services. It was rare for nurses to raise the topic of human rights, and when raised, it was not as a strategy for improving access to physical health care services that they felt consumers with SMI greatly needed. Two main themes were identified as causes of poor access: clinical barriers to physical care and attitudinal barriers to physical care. In light of these results, the authors explore a human rights perspective on access and how this provides an inclusive lobbying umbrella under which nurses and other groups can pursue access to physical health services that are adequate, accessible, and non-discriminatory. The article then discusses the implications for these findings for the value of human rights as a perspective and means of increasing physical health of people with SMI.     

Does Neurofunction Monitoring Enhance Nursing Confidence and Comfort?

Despite advances in the science of sedation and pain assessment, few studies have examined the impact of various assessment tools on nursing confidence. This study examines how bispectral index monitoring impacts nursing confidence in the assessment and comfort in medication administration based on that assessment. In this prospective observational Quality Improvement project, nurses using bispectral index (BIS) and the Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale (RASS) were randomly selected to complete a self-assessment survey intended to measure their personal confidence and comfort regarding care they were providing for a specific patient on the day the survey was completed. From 110 nurse surveys, nurses had higher confidence assessing pain and sedation when BIS monitor was used in concert with RASS assessments for patients with neuromuscular blockade agents. There was no different in confidence in- nor comfort with- sedation and pain assessments for patients not receiving neuromuscular blockade agents.     

Nursing students’ perceived stress and clinical learning experience

BackgroundStressors among nursing students arise from both academic activities and clinical placement. Understanding how nursing students perceive academic and clinical stressors and the clinical learning environment could help develop useful approaches to reducing levels of stress and contribute to the maintenance of a good learning environment. There is a paucity of studies that investigated associations between the clinical learning environment and the stress of nursing students.ObjectivesTo investigate the relationship between the perception of the clinical learning environment and stress in nursing students; to compare the perception of the clinical learning environment and stress in terms of the year and terms of the organization of supervision.DesignCross-sectional correlation studySettingsUniversityParticipantsThe sample consisted of 155 nursing students in the bachelor's degree program. During the four academic years, students of individual years of the bachelor's study program were included in the study after completing all clinical placements in a given academic year.MethodsThe following instruments were used for the data collection: Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and Nurse Teacher evaluation scale, Perceived Stress Scale; Physio-Psycho-Social Response Scale and Coping Behaviour Inventory. Correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis using stepwise methods were used to determine the relationships between the variables.ResultsThe clinical learning environment is a strong predictor of students' perceptions of stress related to teachers and nursing staff. Types and degrees of stressful events during clinical practice varied between years of study. The experience with supervision was related to the overall perception of the clinical learning environment, but not to the students' physio-psychosocial status, types of stressful events during clinical practice and coping behaviors. Also, the differences in the students' physio-psychosocial status were not significant in terms of individual years of study and method of supervision.ConclusionsThere is a significant relationship between the clinical learning environment and the perception of academic stress. The attitude of the teacher and the medical staff can thus be important in influencing the level of stress in nursing students.