ISP:MHN - Reflection on Development of Mental Health Nursing Practice

This assignment presents a student's reflection on mental health nursing practice, highlighting the evolution of the field and the challenges faced by mental health nurses and patients. It addresses issues such as unfavorable public perception and the need for mental health nurses to advocate for their roles and responsibilities. The reflection emphasizes the importance of changing perceptions through education, social media campaigns, and policy implementation to ensure that mental health nurses are recognized and empowered to provide quality care. The paper also touches upon the need for nurses to act as counselors and educators, promoting the significance of mental health within the broader healthcare landscape.

0
Running Head: REFLECTION ON MENTAL HEALTH NURSING PRATICE
Reflection on mental health nursing practice
Author’s name:
Submission date:

1
REFLECTION ON MENTAL HEALTH NURSING PRACTICE
Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Issues relevant to the development of mental health nursing practice......................................................3
Issues faced by mental health nurses......................................................................................................3
Issues faced by mental health patients...................................................................................................4
Works Cited.................................................................................................................................................6

2
REFLECTION ON MENTAL HEALTH NURSING PRACTICE
Introduction
Mental health was started in the 1940s by Hildegard Peplau. This branch of nursing has
undergone so many transformation and evolution since it was started. The role of mental health

3
REFLECTION ON MENTAL HEALTH NURSING PRACTICE
nurse was that of a helper, whereby they helped medical practitioners to take care of the mentally
challenged in asylums (Halter 2017). This role has undergone evolution and it has changed to a
more meaningful role whereby the functions of a mental health nurse go beyond just
administering medication and taking care of the mentally challenged, to the role of an advocate,
teacher, counselor and educator about the significance of mental health in people (Sabella 2014).
Issue relevant to the development of mental health nursing
practice
During its evolution mental health nursing practice has undergone so many
challenges. These challenges are faced by both the mental health nurse and the patient diagnosed
with a mental health problem. The most common issue in mental health nursing is unfavorable
public perception. Mental health nurses face the challenge of being misunderstood by the public
and their professional counterparts in other fields (Fortinash 2014).
Unfavorable public perception; this originates from the history and origin of the
profession. Nurses in other fields and the public view mental health nurses as crazy people. It is
the perception of the public that “if someone interacts with mentally challenged people they tend
to adapt to their insanity and behave like them”. This is a misconception about the field of mental
health nursing and practice which makes people reluctant when venturing into mental health
nursing (Goulter 2015). What this people fail to understand is a mental health nursing practice
requires complex mental and physical skills in order to deal with a person whose has an altered
sense of reality without causing harm to themselves, their client and the surrounding
environment. They fail to understand that mental health patients are patients like others and they
need skilled care in order for them to function normally (Goulter 2015).

4
REFLECTION ON MENTAL HEALTH NURSING PRACTICE
The role of a mental health is to advocate for safe and quality service delivery to all
mental health patients. The mental health nurse also acts as a counselor, to counsel the client on
drug adherence, and follow up. It is also the duty of the mental health nurse practitioner to
educate and teach the client and the public on the importance of mental health and its health
impact (Henderson 2014).
These roles are overlooked and a mental health nurse practitioner performs the duties of
drug administration and documentation; despite the importance of documentation and drug
administration in the disease process of a mental health patient, these duties make the nurse feel
inferior and undermined in the field of mental health nursing; therefore resulting to unfavorable
perception by the public (Halter 2017).
Unfavorable perception impairs development of mental health nursing, because not
many nurses want to venture in the field of mental health; they prefer fields that give them more
value and recognition within the nursing profession something that mental health nurses are
struggling with (Ådnøy Eriksen 2014).
Ways of developing mental health nursing in relation
To unfavorable perception
In order to change the perception of mental health nursing among fellow
professional counterparts and the pubic aggressive campaigning and education on the importance
of mental health nursing should be conducted (Goulter 2015). Also mental health nurse
practitioners should be empowered to adopt their roles and proudly advocate for changes within

5
REFLECTION ON MENTAL HEALTH NURSING PRACTICE
the practice, whereby the mental health nurse assumes all the responsibilities of a mental health
nurse (Sabella 2014).
Changing the perception of mental health nursing practice is the duty to be
exercised by the current mental health nurse who should change the traditions surrounding
mental health nursing practice and create awareness for the importance of this noble profession.
Awareness should be created through aggressive social media campaigns, policy development
and implementation. Policies are developed and implemented to ensure that mental health nurses
uphold the profession responsibilities and roles allocated to them instead of doing just drug
administration (Halter 2017).
Works Cited
Ådnøy Eriksen, K,AM 2014, 'Challenges in relating to mental health professionals: Perspectives of
persons with severe mental illness.', International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, vol 2, no. 23, pp.
pp.110-117.
Fortinash, KM 2014, Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing-E-Book., Elsevier Health Sciences.
Goulter, N,KDJ 2015, 'What keeps nurses busy in the mental health setting?', Journal of psychiatric and
mental health nursing, , vol 6, no. 22, pp. pp.449-456.

6
REFLECTION ON MENTAL HEALTH NURSING PRACTICE
Halter, MJ, 2017, Varcarolis' Foundations of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing-E-Book: A Clinical
Approach, Elsevier Health Sciences.
Henderson, C,NJ 2014, 'Mental health-related stigma in health care and mental health-care settings.',
The Lancet Psychiatry, vol 1, no. 6, pp. pp.467-482.
Sabella, DAF-HT 2014, ' Challenges in mental health nursing: Current opinion.', Nursing: Research and
Reviews, vol 4, pp. pp.1-6.