Part 1

Introduction

To enhance the scope of practice in the field of mental health, the Master of mental health nursing, offered by the University of Melbourne is the ideal program that can be suitable to utilize the skills learned at the graduation level more concretely and competently. It is located in Melbourne and assists the mental health nurse to develop competency in assessment, diagnosis, and interventions to assist individuals with mental distress. This program will assist a registered nurse to gain comprehensive practical and theoretical knowledge in the area of mental health. This specialization will aid the registered nurse in gaining practical clinical experience that is professionally and academically beneficial. This branch of nursing focuses on caring for people suffering from mental distress or illness. This course of nursing focuses on providing nurses with the competency to deal with and care for patients having mental illness. This program focuses on mental health issues and psychiatric issues by comprehending concepts and providing treatments to serve the patients and enhance their quality of life. The efficiency of the nurses to provide effective care and their knowledge is dependent on the curriculum that is taught to them during their nursing education. To assist mental health patients and provide relief in their distress, mental health nursing is the ideal course. The knowledge and skills acquired are valuable and have an impact on the care that the nursing students will provide after completing their studies (Atashzadesh- Shoorideh et al., 2018). Mental health nurse practitioners show competencies in caring, communicating, and knowledge to care for people with mental ailments and disorders. This course enables them to provide patient-centered care. While adopting a person-centered approach, the nurse’s career care depending upon individualized needs and hence improving clinical outcomes for the patient (Moyo et al., 2022).

The area of practice of mental health nursing courses is extensive and depends upon the environment and the part that the nurse practitioner plays in it. Holistic nursing incorporates mental health competency. Mental health nursing requires the adoption of a collaborative approach to enhance clinical outcomes. The area of practice includes health and well-being promotion, psychiatric practices, management of risk factors, rehabilitation, and interventions focusing on the holistic betterment of the individual (Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation, 2021).

  1. Promotion of mental health and well-being: This program provides nurses with the competency to promote the holistic well-being of the individual. The promotion of the overall health of the patient is the primary objective of the mental health nurses. The promotion of health in the field of mental health care which demarcates health as a procedure in the development and appropriate interaction between the mental health nurse and the patient is necessary and hence impacts the quality of clinical outcomes. The competencies that the nurses have play an imperative role in determining the care being provided and influencing the clinical outcomes (Møller et al., 2020). Nurses can assist in promoting the well-being of patients by employing building efficient and trusting relationships with the patients, recognizing and responding to their needs, and promoting healthy behaviors by analyzing the factors that impact their behavior.
  1. Risk assessment and management: In the practice of mental health nursing, the assessment of risk factors and its management is core and the nurses must have the competency to determine the risk factors and manage those risk factors. Adapting this competency assists in the promotion of patient safety. Mental health nursing assist in fostering such competencies in the nurse and enables them within the best practice (Cuomo et al., 2021). Risk assessment and management are fundamental in delivering safe and effective care and promotion of relief to patients experiencing psychological distress. By adopting such practices accurate identification of risk factors takes place and efforts are adopted to minimize them. There exist distinct approaches to analyzing the risk factors in association with mental health naming clinical comprehension that is unstructured, and clinical comprehension that is structured and via statistical approaches (Ahmed, 2021). By adopting such approaches a registered nurse (RN) can assist in providing relief to the individuals experiencing psychological distress.

Part 2

The mental health nursing program will assist the RN to gain theoretical and practical knowledge regarding the competency to provide care to patients with mental distress. This assists those becoming mental health nurses while specializing in dealing with patients who are experiencing psychological distress. The learning outcomes of this course are diverse and the following can be attained during the first year:

Learning outcome 1: The adoption of an interprofessional collaborative approach to assist and support the patient with mental health issues to improve their quality of life and enhance their sustenance.

To provide relief to patients with mental distress, a collaboration of individuals from diverse fields is essential. Collaboration among the mental health nurse, community workers, physicians, therapists, and nurses can assist in eliminating the hardships of the patients and aim at enhancing their recovery (Biringer et al., 2020).

Learning outcome 2: Establishment of a trusting and therapeutic relationship with the patients to promote their recovery

The development of a therapeutic and trusting alliance between the patients with mental distress and the nurse is a determinant of positive clinical outcomes (Hartley et al., 2020). This program assists in learning the competency to develop a therapeutic alliance and have a positive impact on treatment outcomes. Nurses can show empathy, build trust, and can advocate for the needs of the patients. An effective relationship aids in reducing the number of days of hospital stay and hence is beneficial for both.

Learning outcome 3: To utilize the patient's perspective in providing a planning care plan and implementing it.

This enables the individuals to develop the needs of the patient and provide them with a patient-centered approach and aims at treating them with integrity and empathy. This will assist the nurses in attaining competency to develop tailored nursing plans.

Learning outcomes 4: Development of advanced degree of clinical competency and skill

This program assists the nurses in gaining advanced knowledge in the area of assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health ailments. This responds to comprehending the complex interconnection of biological, psychological, and environmental factors.

Learning outcome 5: Practice in the field of mental health by the professional code of standards and ethics.

This standard will provide the nurses with insights into policy, framework, and guidelines adopted in a healthcare setup. And provides the code of conduct that the nurses need to abide by when in practice as these standards determine the quality of care being given to the patients.

Learning outcome 6: To employ the development of management skills

The expertise essential for the nurses to manage teams will be developed in the nursing students through the curriculum of this course. The course will provide knowledge regarding diverse management and leadership styles that can be employed by mental health nurses in various setups (Sundberg et al., 2021).

Part C

CPD

Date

Source or provider details

Identified

learning needs 

Action plan 

Type of Activity

Description of the topic (s) covered during the activity and outcome

Reflection on activity  and specification to practice

No./Title/

Description  of evidence provided

CPD

hours

12/04/24 

Australian College of Mental Health Nurses

Enhanced skills in the development of therapeutic relationships with the patients

To enhance the relationship nurses should engage in maintaining a safe environment and adopt the means of therapeutic communication

5 hours long Workshop on the therapeutic relationship with mental health patients

Development of skills and behavioral patterns adopted while dealing with mental health patients

This activity has enabled me to achieve enhanced skills and behavioral patterns while dealing with patients with mental distress.

E-certificate stating the completion of the course

5 hours

23/8/24

Collaboration between the University of Melbourne and Deakin University

Enhanced background knowledge and skills regarding psychodynamic therapy

The objective is to make mental health care nurses well-versed in the employment of psychodynamic therapy in the clinical setup and teach them the skills required to analyze the influence of the past on the present. 

4.5-hour workshop stating the principles of therapy and overview of how the therapy works in clinical settings

Development of skills and how the therapy assists in comprehending the influence of past and present and to make the patient self-aware.

This activity provided me with a new theory and a practical competence assessment about employing psychodynamic analysis while dealing with mental health patient and aiming at making people self-aware.

Certificate of attendance

4.5 hours

2/1/25

Australian College of Nursing

Details regarding pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions

Providing evidence-based knowledge and training opportunities to the nurses

2-hour long webinar stating the different alternatives

Differences between both the interventions, principle behind the medications, and when to use which type of intervention

This activity provided me with a new theory and a practical competence assessment determining the pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions.

E-certificate of completion

2 hours

References

Ahmed, N. (2021). Shared Decision-Making in Risk Assessment and Risk Management with People with Severe Mental Illness (Doctoral dissertation, City, University of London).https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-021-03304-0’

ANMF.(2021). Mental health nursing.https://www.anmf.org.au/media/vgcg4wqi/p_mental_health_nursing.pdf

Atashzadeh-Shoorideh, F., Mohtashami, J., Pishgooie, S. A. H., Jamshidi, T., & Sedghi, S. (2018). Effectiveness of implementation of “mental health nursing students’ clinical competency model” on academic performance of nursing students. F1000Research, 7(1212), 1212.

Biringer, E., Hove, O., Johnsen, Ø.,& Lier, H. Ø. (2021). “People just don't understand their role in it.” Collaboration and coordination of care for service users with complex and severe mental health problems. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, 57(2), 900.https://doi.org/10.1111/ppc.12633

Cuomo, A., Koukouna, D., Macchiarini, L., & Fagiolini, A. (2021). Patient safety and risk management in mental health. Textbook of Patient Safety and Clinical Risk Management, 287-298.

Hartley, S., Raphael, J., Lovell, K., & Berry, K. (2020). Effective nurse–patient relationships in mental health care: A systematic review of interventions to improve the therapeutic alliance. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 102, 103490. 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2019.103490

Møller, J. E., Møller, A., & Ledderer, L. (2020). Dilemmas in delivering health promotion activities: findings from a qualitative study of mental health nurses in Denmark. BMJ Open, 10(12), e036403.http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-036403

Moyo, N., Jones, M., & Gray, R. (2022). What are the core competencies of a mental health nurse? A concept mapping study involving five stakeholder groups. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 31(4), 933-951. 10.1111/in.13003

Sundberg, K., Vistrand, C., Sjöström, K., & Örmon, K. (2022). Nurses' leadership in psychiatric care—A qualitative interview study of nurses' experience of leadership in an adult psychiatric inpatient care setting. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 29(5), 732-743. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpm.12751

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