Reflection Assignment: Psychiatric-Mental Health Essay

Reflection Assignment: Psychiatric-Mental Health Essay

 

Psychiatric Mental Health Reflection

Psychiatric mental health nursing is a sub-specialty in nursing that concerns caring for individuals, groups, families, or populations with mental illness and improving their quality of life. Mental illnesses are some of the significant causes of disease, morbidity, and even mortality worldwide. Globally, notable treatment gaps still exist among the psychiatric or mentally ill population and are thus among the underserved and disenfranchised groups within the healthcare setting (Mongelli et al., 2020). This is majorly attributed to various barriers to mental health care which necessitates the formulation of appropriate strategies to effectively address these treatment gaps and disparities.

My Past Experience In Psychiatric Mental Health And Mental Illness

I have always heard about mental illness theoretically during my studies and from the media. Before learning and operating in a mental healthcare facility, my interaction with psychiatric and mentally ill patients was non-existent. My first experience was during my psychiatric mental health clinical rotation as a nursing student. This experience was quite insightful despite being quite challenging.

One thing that I noted is that sometimes it can be dangerous working or operating in a mental health unit. This is particularly true, especially in the inpatient psychiatric wards whereby admitted patients’ mental health is usually more severe than those on follow-up in the outpatient clinics. Psychotic and manic patients, for example, are aggressive, and impulsive and they show both verbal and physical violent tendencies. They thus can be a danger to themselves and others including nurses who are part of the frontline mental health workers. It is therefore important to always anticipate and prevent provocative situations that may present risks both to the patient and others. Measures have been put in place in various mental health institutions to ensure safety and any rules laid out should be adhered to.

Long working hours are another challenge within the mental health department. This may be attributed to the inadequate mental health staff which is a health challenge that cuts across all aspects of the healthcare setting. This frequently resulted in burnout, job dissatisfaction, and eventually poor work performance. Most psychiatric patients are under chronic care interventions and resultantly have a longer hospital stay. This adds to the already high workload. Despite this challenge, the health care providers in the mental health facility were dedicated and showed a lot of co-operation to provide quality patient-centered care.

My interactions with patients and health professionals within the mental health facility have greatly contributed to my professional development. Not only have I been equipped with necessary skills but also knowledge in regards to the management of mentally ill patients. I can currently confidently and effectively manage a psychiatric patient through a comprehensive history, thorough mental health assessment, and other evaluation modalities. Individuals with mental illness have been shown to undergo a lot of stigma stemming from various reasons such as fear of mentally ill patients and perceived burden from mentally ill individuals (Tan et al. 2020). Most of the psychiatric patients were in agreement with this with most confessing that they had no support from their families and friends. It is thus important to provide psycho-education both to the patient, the family, and the general public in addition to the psychotherapeutic interventions to meet the patients’ mental needs.

My Reasons For Working With The Mentally Ill Population

With the rising cases of mental illnesses across the world, I have recently developed an interest in learning more about mental. This was one of the reasons why I chose to work with the mentally ill population. My choice was also based on my passion and desire to help individuals struggling with mental health illnesses, those who do not understand mental health illnesses, and those having trouble coping with their mental condition. Simulation training that I received during my studies has been shown to promote the development of appropriate competencies necessary when giving support and services to individuals with mental illnesses (Piot et al., 2022). Being in the mental health facility thus provided a psychiatric training opportunity to reinforce the simulations and further contribute to my professional development.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

My Concerns Regarding Mental Health Clinical Experience

Attempts to improve access and quality of mental health care by psychiatric patients and the general public have been hampered by various barriers. These obstacles include a fundamental lack of understanding of mental health, disparities in access to evidence-based interventions, maldistribution of mental health services,  stigma in psychiatric diagnoses and treatment, inadequate mental health workforce, unavailability of community-based therapies, and lack of insurance coverage among others (Mongelli et al., 2020). These may necessitate the formulation of policies and strategies to address these challenges with the involvement of both policymakers and healthcare providers.

One of the possible solutions includes inter-professional collaborative communication and care of mental health illness patients for a better quality of patient care. Telepsychiatry could also be incorporated into mental health patient care thus enabling adequate patient care despite the inadequate psychiatric mental illness nursing staff. More research and funding in the field may be needed to come up with evidence-based solutions that meet patient needs. More professionals may also need to be trained or psychiatric aspects of health may be included in general training so that all medical personnel can be competent in managing mental illness to reduce the burden for those in this field.

A variety of tactics and narrative strands in an overall medical assessment are required for the effective execution of the recovery approach. Nurses require medical assistance in providing consistent assessments and documentation of psychosocial therapies. In primary care, a wider range of specialized services given by nurses, such as psychological therapies and health promotion, is critical to providing high-quality care and increasing service user outcomes ( Cusack et al., 2017). This will come in handy in identifying the abilities or competencies, the skills, and much-needed support required by mental health nurses in the implementation of recovery-oriented policies in inpatient care.

My Personal Academic And Professional Goals For My Mental Health Clinical Experience

In my view, I believe that every health professional especially those in the psychiatric and mental illness field should keep up with new information regarding mental health and mental illness. My personal and professional goal is thus to stay current in line with new evidence-based practices for better mental illness patient outcomes. I will also actively participate in advocacy through legislation of prospective policies that will mitigate barriers to access and quality mental health care. My other objective is to champion mental health awareness not only among the affected population but also among the general public. This will all be to reduce stigma and change negative perspectives about mental illness and promote health-seeking behavior among the affected individuals.

References

Cusack, E., Killoury, F., & Nugent, L. E. (2017). The professional psychiatric/mental health nurse: skills, competencies, and supports required to adopt recovery-orientated policy in practice. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 24(2–3), 93–104. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpm.12347

Mongelli, F., Georgakopoulos, P., & Pato, M. (2020). Challenges and Opportunities to Meet the Mental Health Needs of Underserved and Disenfranchised Populations in the United States. FOCUS, 18(1), 16-24. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.focus.20190028

Piot, M.-A., Dechartres, A., Attoe, C., Romeo, M., Jollant, F., Billon, G., Cross, S., Lemogne, C., Layat Burn, C., Michelet, D., Guerrier, G., Tesniere, A., Rethans, J.-J., & Falissard, B. (2022). Effectiveness of simulation in psychiatry for nursing students, nurses and nurse practitioners: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 78(2), 332–347. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.14986

Tan, G., Shahwan, S., Goh, C., Ong, W., Wei, K., & Verma, S. et al. (2020). Mental illness stigma’s reasons and determinants (MISReaD) among Singapore’s lay public – a qualitative inquiry. BMC Psychiatry, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-020-02823-6

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

 

Reflective Journal

Prompt #1
 Describe your past experience in mental health or with mental illness.
 What are the reasons you have chosen to work with this population?
 Discuss any concerns you have regarding this clinical experience.
 Identify personal academic/professional goals for this clinical experience.

Rubrics
Assignment Evaluation
Each of these assignments will be evaluated according to the following rubric:

Criteria Points
Follows the prompt 5 points
Is within time limits for the prompt 5 points
Thoughtfully addresses the prompt 15 points
Total 25 points