Mental Health Nursing: Communication Episode Critique

This report provides a reflective critique of a significant communication episode in mental health nursing. It begins with an introduction to the role of mental health nurses and the purpose of the assignment, which is to analyze a planned or unplanned episode of communication. The main body of the report details a snapshot of the communication, identifying variables such as training, social impact, and effective communication that influenced the interaction between a mental health nurse and a patient. The report examines attitudes, both enhancing and hindering the communication, and reflects on the nurse's thinking, feeling, and behavior during the episode. Strategies to achieve better outcomes are proposed, including building a strong nurse-patient relationship, empathy, and clear communication. Recommendations are made to enhance the nurse's thinking, feeling, and behavior through positive attitudes, training, and peer support. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of effective communication in mental health nursing and its impact on patient care. The assignment references various books and journals to support its findings and recommendations. This analysis aims to improve clinical care for patients suffering from mental health issues.

Mental health
nursing-A Reflective
Critique of a
Significant Episode of
Communication

Contents
Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Planned and Unplanned snapshot of communication..................................................................3
Identify the variables that affected..............................................................................................3
Attitude enhancing and hindering the communication................................................................4
Thinking, feeling, behaviour enhancing and hindering the communication...............................5
Strategies to achieve better outcome...........................................................................................5
RECOMMENDATION...................................................................................................................6
Strategies to enhance thinking feeling and behaviour.................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Mental health nurses are those individuals who are engaged in providing support and care to
patients who are suffering from mental health problems. They provide support to service users
going through anxiety, depression, trauma, eating disorders or addiction of drugs and alcohol.
Present report will lay emphasis on discuss 3-4 variables that influenced the communication.
Assignment will also provide detailed reflection on the communication guided by the prompts. It
lays focus on measurable strategies that could be implemented in the clinical care setting.
Purpose of the assignment is to provide a snapshot of the planned or unplanned episode of
communication. It will also reflect particularly on the attitudes that both enhanced and hindered
the interactions during the episode of communication
MAIN BODY
Planned and Unplanned snapshot of communication
From the case study, it has been analysed that when mental health nurse Alistair entered the
room of patient, the nurse saw service user being completely shattered, sad and depressed.
Patient was crying out loud because of the past experiences. This was planned episode of
communication as before entering the room, mental health nurse has gone through medical
history of service user, so that become easy for him to start a conversation with patient. The
communication between them was really ineffective as the patient was not comfortable in
communicating with mental health nurse (Kitchener & Jorm, (2017). It was really lengthy and
complicated interaction based on history of trauma faced by service user. The unplanned
snapshot communication was when mental health nurse also gave sign to his fellow nurse, so that
they can know where they were. It was also analysed that this signal meant that they can contact
any other professional who can get engaged in knowing about the issue faced by patient (Foster
et.al., (2019).
Identify the variables that affected
There are various variables that can lay impact on practice of mental health nurses. The
main role of nurse is to anticipate the suffering of patient, aid recovery and minimize the risk of
relapse. From the case study, it was analyzed that nurse was not able to provide emotional
support to patient who is been suffering from deep trauma. Mental health nurses have tried to
interact with service users but they were unable to provide person centered care to service user
going through mental health problem (Wynade et.al., (2016).. The variable that affected mental

health nursing practice that is really necessary to provide nurses with better training and clinical
supervision so that their skills are being improved and they are able to communicate more
confidently with patients while providing them with treatment (Slemon, Jenkins & Bungay,
(2017). It will also reduce the stress level of nurses and provides better clinical outcome. The
other variable that has affected mental nurse is that special recognition must be given to the
social impact on the individual during untreated mental health issues with regard to isolation and
withdrawal as well as factors which also affect help-seeking behavior. Effective communication
is also one of the variable affecting mental health nurses as it is really important to have better
interaction, not only with patient but also with family so that community wide care can be
provided.
Attitude enhancing and hindering the communication
It is really necessary for mental health nurses to have effective communication skills and
positive attitude towards patient while interacting with (Happell et.al., (2019). Case study has
provided the details that in order to make interaction effective, mental health nurse has gone
through medical history of patient, so that they can have complete knowledge about the trauma
faced by service users. On the other hand, case study provided the details that mental health
nurse during the time of interaction were not empathetic towards patient that has made
communication between them more lengthy and complicated. This has hindered the interaction
between Alistair and patient. They were unable to analyze the issues that have been faced by
service user, which has made patient more sad and depressed (Edward, Hercelinskyj &
Giandinoto, (2017).. One of the most important aspects in providing high quality of care is
communication. This can assist mental health nurses in reducing the errors during the process of
treatment. It has also been analyzed from the case study that service user and mental health nurse
had poor relationship between them; this attitude of nurse has hindered the aspects of
communication. It has reduced the quality of care that has been provided by mental health nurse.
Case study has showed that the nurses and their peer have not shown much effort towards
knowing the problem that has been faced by mental health patient (Varcarolis, (2016). . This
attitude of them towards service user has made the communication between them ineffective.
Communication can help mental health nurses in analyzing the needs and demands of service
users so that they can provide patient with high quality of services.

Thinking, feeling, behaviour enhancing and hindering the communication
Case study has provided the details that mental health nurse have analyzed the issues faced
by patient by evaluating his past medical history. It was analyzed that mental health nurse while
communicating with service user was not empathetic which has made communication lengthy
and difficult. It has evaluated that mental health nurse was not passionate enough while
providing treatment to patient (Barker, (2017). This attitude of nurses towards patient has made
the communication in effective. Case study also provided with the detail that there was also no
support from peer which is really necessary so that better clinical care can be provided to mental
health patients. Professional attitude of mental health nurses includes feeling and emotions so
that better relationship can be made with patient. This aspect was missing in Alistair; they were
not emotional and sympathetic towards mental health patient. This aspect has hindered the
interaction between them. It has also been analyzed that mental health nurses also needs to have
better attitude towards family members of patient, so that high quality of clinical care can be
provided by working in collaboration with family. This aspect can also make communication
better between patient and nurse.
Strategies to achieve better outcome
In order to make communication better between mental health nurse and patient, it is really
necessary for them to build a better nurse and patient relationship. It will assist them in analyzing
the needs and demands of service users (Holmberg, Caro & Sobis, (2018). Mental health nurses
also need to be more empathetic towards patients while providing them with treatment. They
need to have positive attitude towards service users. They can also engage in making better bond
with family members so that communication between them becomes effective. In order to
improvise the quality of care provided by mental health nurse, it is really necessary to have
effective communication (Choi et.al., (2016). This will help them in analyzing needs and
demands of patient suffering from problems like depression and anxiety. It has also been
analyzed that while communicating with service user mental health nurse must be clear and
concise so that they are able to make a better bond with them. Effective communication can
assist them in providing emotional support to service users that can enhance their health
outcome.

RECOMMENDATION
Strategies to enhance thinking feeling and behaviour
There are various strategies that can be used to enhance thinking, feeling and behavior of mental
health nurses. It includes the following:
 In order to have better future interaction, mental health nurses must have a positive
attitude towards patient; this can be enhanced by having in-depth knowledge about the
mental issues faced by patient.
 Training and clinical supervision can be provided so that communication becomes
effective between mental health nurses and patients (Townsend & Morgan, (2017).
 It has also been analyzed that mental health nurses also can take support from their peer
who can assist them in having knowledge about the problems faced by patients.
 They also need to be more empathetic so that communication does not become lengthy
and they are able to analyze the need and demands of service users effectively.
 Future interaction can also become better when nurses make use of assertive
communication, in this they are require to provide respect towards perception of others.
 Mental health nurses also need to be self-aware about the mental health issues faced by
patient, so that communication can be improved (Varcarolis, (2016).
CONCLUSION
From the above study, it has been summarised that effective communication has assisted
mental health nurses in analysing the needs and demands of service users suffering from mental
health issues. It has been analysed that nurses has been empathetic towards patients so that
communication between them become effective and better care is been provided to them. It has
also been analysed that mental health nurses had full knowledge about the trauma faced by
patient in past which has made communication effective.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Townsend, M. C., & Morgan, K. I. (2017). Psychiatric mental health nursing: Concepts of care
in evidence-based practice. FA Davis.
Barker, P. (2017). Psychiatric and mental health nursing: The craft of caring. CRC Press.
Edward, K. L., Hercelinskyj, G., & Giandinoto, J. A. (2017). Emotional labour in mental health
nursing: An integrative systematic review. International Journal of Mental Health
Nursing, 26(3), 215-225.
Holmberg, C., Caro, J., & Sobis, I. (2018). Job satisfaction among Swedish mental health
nursing personnel: Revisiting the two‐factor theory. International journal of mental
health nursing, 27(2), 581-592.
Foster, K., Roche, M., Delgado, C., Cuzzillo, C., Giandinoto, J. A., & Furness, T. (2019).
Resilience and mental health nursing: An integrative review of international
literature. International journal of mental health nursing, 28(1), 71-85.
Slemon, A., Jenkins, E., & Bungay, V. (2017). Safety in psychiatric inpatient care: The impact of
risk management culture on mental health nursing practice. Nursing Inquiry, 24(4),
e12199.
Varcarolis, E. M. (2016). Essentials of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing-E-Book: A
Communication Approach to Evidence-Based Care. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Kitchener, B. A., & Jorm, A. F. (2017). The role of Mental Health First Aid training in nursing
education: A response to Happell, Wilson & McNamara (2015). Collegian, 24(3), 313-
315.
Jones, J. S., Fitzpatrick, J. J., & Rogers, V. L. (Eds.). (2016). Psychiatric-mental health nursing:
An interpersonal approach. Springer Publishing Company.
Choi, H., Hwang, B., Kim, S., Ko, H., Kim, S., & Kim, C. (2016). Clinical education in
psychiatric mental health nursing: Overcoming current challenges. Nurse education
today, 39, 109-115.
Russo, J., Beresford, P., & O'Hagan, M. (2018). Commentary on: Happell, B. & Scholz, B
(2018). Doing what we can, but knowing our place: Being an ally to promote consumer
leadership in mental health. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 27, 440-
447. International journal of mental health nursing.
Wynaden, D., Heslop, B., Heslop, K., Barr, L., Lim, E., Chee, G. L., ... & Murdock, J. (2016).
The chasm of care: Where does the mental health nursing responsibility lie for the
physical health care of people with severe mental illness?. International Journal of
Mental Health Nursing, 25(6), 516-525.
Happell, B., Platania‐Phung, C., Scholz, B., Bocking, J., Horgan, A., Manning, F., ... & Pullo, J.
(2019). Changing attitudes: The impact of Expert by Experience involvement in Mental
Health Nursing Education: An international survey study. International journal of mental
health nursing, 28(2), 480-491.
Cutcliffe, J. R., & Sloan, G. (2018). 10 Competences for Clinical Supervision in
Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing. European Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing in the
21st Century: A Person-Centred Evidence-Based Approach, 123.
Santos, J. C., Bashaw, M., Mattcham, W., Cutcliffe, J. R., & Vedana, K. G. G. (2018). The
biopsychosocial approach: towards holistic, person-centred psychiatric/mental health

nursing practice. In European Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing in the 21st
Century (pp. 89-101). Springer, Cham.

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