Updating United States psychiatric nurses in a state hospital

Nurses who care for psychiatric patients are often located in settings far from nursing schools and medical centres. As these often provide workshops and training in order to familiarize nurses with current concepts, not only in the field of psychiatry but in medical, surgical, maternity and paediatric fields, it is important that a mechanism be developed to ensure that nurses in distant settings receive training on these topics. This paper outlines the assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation phases on the initial ‘Psychiatric Nursing Update’ held at Logansport State Hospital during 1986–1987. The initial ‘update’ was evaluated by nurses as successful and has been continued.