Roles of Nurses in Community Mental Health
Nursing practices in the community mental health background differ significantly from the one conducted in the hospital environments. Aspects of flexibility and knowledge on community resources are essential for every nurse operating at the community level. The nurses work at a close range with patients in the community to assess, diagnose and treat patients with mental illnesses (Stuart, 2014). They conduct various professional roles as a part of the larger team that deliver medical care at the community level. Their roles are characterized by evaluating the needs of patients based on mental health (Strauss, 2017). They also formulate treatment plans effective for the affected community members.
Moreover, they initiate psychotherapy services to patients as an objective for recovery. Furthermore, their roles are characterized by the provision of personal care to the diagnosed patients. They also establish healthy coordination with patients’ families and doctors to enhance an effective recovery environment (Smolowitz, 2015). Another activity associated with professional nurses at the community level is providing medication as directed by psychiatrists.
Correspondingly, professional nurses should consult the staff on planning strategies for care to promote quality mental health care. Collaborative aspects with other agencies would also be essential to facilitate quality treatment to patients (Lindstedt, 2017). Furthermore, the nurses should enroll in leadership roles amongst the treatment team in the community (Fairweather, 2017). The treatment procedures should be characterized by research to reveal the actual problem as well as maintain accuracy in treatment and diagnosis.
In the community health context, matters of culture and ethics are intertwined intimately. Ethical practices among nurses at the community level require sensitivity, empathy and awareness for the patients regarding their beliefs and values (Morgan, 2015). The medicine practice oriented towards the community health provides wide, effective and more welcoming care in the cultural perspective. Therefore, this procedure aids in delivering substantial benefits of care to a large number of patients. The initiated cultural competences in the community reveal a concrete demonstration of ethical practice. It is characterized by beneficence, respect for patient, non-maleficence, and offering fair treatment to the patients. In the aspect of ethics for patient respect, nurses are required to operate under the considerations of moral values and ideals in the community (Johnstone, 2015). The medical practitioners’ cultural heritage and development might result in ethically challenging situations while providing treatment (Hem, 2015). Hence. They are subjected to healthcare culture that equips them with attitudes and traditions of the respective community to facilitate easy and quality ethical practices towards the mentally challenged patients.
Clinical Topics Associated with Mental Illness in the Community
Moreover, ethical values in community health nursing are characterized by empowerment, high-quality services, and accountable care in mental health, accessible community healthcare, and effective treatment (Iemmi, 2016). Furthermore, nurses should stimulate good relationships and trust towards their mental- ill patients (Cashin, 2015). They should also advocate for family support to the affected patients to accelerate the healing procedures.
Various clinical topics have been intensively associated with mental illness in the community. They reveal the specific conditions that affect individuals in the context of mental health in the community. They include attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, bipolar disorders, borderline personality disorders, dissociative disorders, dual diagnosis, eating disorders, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and others (Gotham, 2015). The hyperactivity disorder is associated with impulsivity and inattention. The conditions have a higher prevalence and incident rate in children than in adults. Only approximately 3% of adults are affected by this mental condition in the community (Townsend, 2017). Professional nurses subject medical, physiological, behavioral and educational procedures to solve the situation (Agnew, 2016).
Secondly, autism is characterized by repetitive behaviors, communication problems and social deficits, mostly among children and teenagers. Professional nurses control the situation through psychotherapy, supplements and medication (Marvin, 2015). Thirdly, bipolar disorder is characterized by recurring depression and manic episodes that can make last for two months. It propels the patient to dramatic mood shifts, unusual energy and inability to proper thinking. Although it affects both genders equally, its incident rate is high between the ages of 15-25 (Grunze, 2015). The borderline personality disorder is another legal topic associated with mental health in the community. It is associated with pervasive mood instability, interpersonal moods and behaviors. It is one of the most problematic situations to control professional nursing in the community. It evokes frustration and anger among the professionals hence making them reluctant in diagnosing and treating the patient (Paris, 2018).
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines teamwork as non-clinical or clinical activity in healthcare which takes place as a result of several workers from various professional backgrounds offering comprehensive services by collaborating with patients, family members and the community to provide quality care (Körner, 2016). Community mental health practice in various parts of the world has been facing constraints as a result of the ill definition of teamwork by professionals in the field. Due to this reason, health systems in the community experience complexity in factors such as heightened patient and community expectations, workforce shortages, poor communication and the presence of aging nursing professionals (Gwinner, 2015). Such aspects result to client disempowerment and sigma which lies between the medically and hierarchical dominated structure (Tomizawa, 2017). Quality mental health services are blocked by underdeveloped coordinated and cross-sectional responses within the community mental health systems.
The Importance of Teamwork in Community Mental Health
Moreover, failure to implement teamwork skills has led to compromised client safety which results in preventable disabilities and death. Therefore, healthcare stakeholders are advocating for policies based on collaborative health practices. They concur that teamwork is beneficial in enhancing effective coordination of medical responses, improve in health outcomes among community members as a result of improved health care (Rosen, 2018).
The difference between the rural and metropolitan nurses depends on the regulatory forces, level of competence, cost of the structure and the government policies (Kisely, 2017). Assessment of how the nurses differ reveal that nurses operating in rural areas provide less accessible and lower quality services than those in urban settings (Stanhope, 2015). In matters about cost functions, the analysis revealed that the cost for care provided by nurses is directly proportional to the degree of skilled care provided by nurses. Therefore, the availability of resources can dictate the quality of services provided by nurses in both rural and metropolitan areas (Rosenbaum, 2014). In the aspect of competition, nursing practice in the urban and rural setting is dictated by the number of private and public-pay patients (Hoeft, 2018).
In metropolitan areas, most individuals are financially stable. Hence, most of the patients employ high-quality nursing services which are characterized by high payment rates, unlike the public services which are dominant in rural areas (Mosadeghrad, 2014). Still, government policies affect the quality and lever off nursing services provided in both urban and rural areas. Policies laid by the government, especially through funding, dictates the nurses’ decision on the quality and selection of services as well as the efficiency level (Ashley, 2017).
References
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The Difference between Rural and Metropolitan Nursing
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