Barriers and Strategies for Mental Health Treatment

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Evidence Based Nursing Research
Name
Institution

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Evidence Based Nursing Research
Task 1
Specific area of nursing practice that I have interest in is mental health nursing. In this
area of practice one has to go through medical training and more so to specialize in medical
treatment of mental disorders (Crowe, Inder & Porter 2015). It requires medical school and
specialization in psychiatry, in the area of practice psychotherapy counseling is done to those
who are having mental problems.
Task 2
How does a nurse/physician/health professional balance respect for the patients who are
mentally disturbed or are having mental disorder, and the right to involvement in decision
making about their health with the demands and wishes of family members or other legal
guardians?
Task 3
Mental disorder is one major are seen to be a major public health problem that is
worldwide. There is an increased use of psychotropic drugs and advanced therapies. In the
treatment of mental illness pharmacist forms an essential part of the multidisciplinary team for
mentally-ill patients (Videbeck & Videbeck 2013). A range of barriers deter nurses and
pharmacist from counseling patients with mental illness but there are several interventions or
strategies that help in enhancing the management of mental health patients. According to the
American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder, mental

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illness is a group of disorders which are characterized with deregulations of moods thought and
behavior (Halter 2017).
How does nurses balance respect for patients who are having mental disorder?
There is supposed to be a balance when dealing with patients who have a mental disorder.
In mental health care, there are privacy rights which matter a lot and must be observed (Melnyk,
Gallagher‐Ford, Long & Fineout‐Overholt 2014). That happens because cases of mental health
are associated with issues like stigmatization. The Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPPAA) give nurses a guide and the consumers too have privacy rights and
protection for the health information.
The privacy rule provides a balance between protecting patients who are mentally-ill by
protecting their sensitive health information. It also allows for sharing of patients information so
as to ensure the patient gets best treatment and that there is patient’s safety and that of others
(LoBiondo-Wood & Haber 2014). The guide mostly applies to adult patients, when a nurse is
handling a patient with mental disorder he/she has a right to receive copies of the patients’
medical records. The nurse is not allowed to look at the previous psychotherapy notes of the
patient. According to HIPAA, psychotherapy notes are recorded by care provider who must be a
mental health expert. He/she documents and analyses the content of the conversation during the
session.
The notes are kept in a different place, but separate from the billing information of the
patients. On the other hand, the privacy regulations also restrict the nurses from revealing the
patients’ psychotherapy notes without having an approval from the concerned patients. Such
disclosures should not be done to anyone to anyone including the medics, family members or any

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other interested parties (Chen & Benusa 2017). Such restrictions do not apply on the information
on the counseling sessions and how they should be conducted.
Restriction does not also involve the type, numbers of treatment, results of clinical tests,
summaries of diagnosis, functional status, treatment plan, symptoms and progress date.
According to HIPAA, the disclosure of patient health information to family members is not
allowed especially without the consent of the patient. It gives the nurses an opportunity to
discuss the patient’s medical records with the family members only if the patient agrees that it
should be done (Li, Xu, Luo, Cao, Mathew & Ma 2017). However, despite the fact that the
patient gives a consent, the nurse should not just disclose everything to the family members, but
only give them the information that they need.
The nurse only gives necessary information that is needed by the family members of the
mental ill patient. The information that can help them assists the client on the recovery journey.
For instance, a nurse may talk about the medication regime so as to make sure that the client is
assisted in taking the drugs. On the other hand the therapist is not authorized to discuss the
conversation between him and the patient (Li, Xu, Luo, Cao, Mathew & Ma 2017).
Right to involvement in decision making about their health
Most people having mental disorder do agree to be treated but others a times needs to be
treated compulsorily. A patient who is treated compulsorily is one who has been assessed by a
psychiatrist and placed on a treatment. There are some many laws that protect the right of
patients being treated with mental illness. The rights includes rights to privacy confidentiality
and other human rights, the mental health acts is a recovery oriented because it aims at