Improving Physical Health of People with Mental Illness: A Critical Reflection

This essay reflects on a program aimed at improving physical health of people suffering from mental illnesses. The program was named ‘No Mental Health without Physical Health’. The interdisciplinary team comprised of physicians, nurses, psychologists, physical activity coordinator and pharmacists, in addition to the service users. The program was built with the aim of ensuring parity of esteem between physical health and mental health, by providing equal attention to the physical health problems of the affected individuals.

Running head: MENTAL HEALTH NURSING
Critical reflection
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Poor physical health increases the risks of development of mental illness.
Simultaneously poor mental health is also found to create a negative impact on the physical
status of the person and results in an increased likelihood of developing comorbidities
(Halfon, Larson & Slusser, 2013). This essay will reflect on a program aimed at improving
physical health of people suffering from mental illnesses.
The program was named ‘No Mental Health without Physical Health’. The program
was formulated based on the existing data which suggest that patients suffering from severe
mental illness die up to 20 years earlier than the rest of the population. The purpose of the
program was aimed at taking positive actions for improving the physical health of individuals
living with mental disorders. The program was built with the aim of ensuring parity of esteem
between physical health and mental health, by providing equal attention to the physical health
problems of the affected individuals.
The basic purpose of conducting the program was the fact that patients reporting
mental health problems should always be empowered for making real progress towards
increasing their life expectancy and aligning it in line with the entire population (Mitchell,
2013). The need for maintaining a balance while implementing a holistic approach for
management of physical and mental health was also required (Kemp & Quintana, 2013). Poor
physical health in case of mental illness significantly impact the quality of lives, increase
healthcare demands, and generate negative consequences to the society (Richardson, Elliott
& Roberts, 2013).
We formulated the program following an approval from the hospital administration. The
interdisciplinary team comprised of physicians, nurses, psychologists, physical activity
coordinator and pharmacists, in addition to the service users. A plethora of methods and
assessments related to quality improvement were identified for assessing the problems and

2MENTAL HEALTH NURSING
identifying appropriate solutions. 6 representative teams were built, each including 5 service
users and 3 healthcare providers. We conducted the comprehensive physical health
assessment on the patients in the mental health ward by following the Plan-Do-Study-Act
cycle (McGorry, Bates & Birchwood, 2013). We began taking weekly measures of
improvement and assessed the following five aspects in the patients:
 Physical health examination
 Smoking status
 BMI
 Blood Pressure
 Cardiovascular risk scores (JBS-3)
A physical health check tool was used to assess improvements in the physical health of
the people.
Major benefits of the project encompass the fact that it was based on the fact that mental
and physical health are inextricably associated and detrimental to the overall wellbeing of a
person, in regard to the different entities. This was supported by strong evidences that
presence of a long term mental disorder poses significant risks for the development of poor
physical health (Payne et al., 2013). 80% of the patients were found to adhere to the practice
of receiving comprehensive health checks, referral and advice. Patients with chronic mental
disorders were found to reduce their smoking habits, following implementation of the project,
which in turn reduced risks for comorbidities.
To conclude, the program based on conducting health assessments helped to keep a check
on practices that might increase the likelihood of suffering from comorbid conditions. This
increased the proportion of patients who received such comprehensive checks and also helped
in monitoring their physical status.

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References
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mental health, developmental, and physical health conditions in a nationally
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Kemp, A. H., & Quintana, D. S. (2013). The relationship between mental and physical health:
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McGorry, P., Bates, T., & Birchwood, M. (2013). Designing youth mental health services for
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Psychiatry, 202(s54), s30-s35.
Mitchell, R. (2013). Is physical activity in natural environments better for mental health than
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Payne, R. A., Abel, G. A., Guthrie, B., & Mercer, S. W. (2013). The effect of physical
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Richardson, T., Elliott, P., & Roberts, R. (2013). The relationship between personal
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