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The mental health nurse practitioner in the emergency department: An Australian experience
Author(s) -
Wand Timothy,
Fisher Jacklin
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
international journal of mental health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.911
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1447-0349
pISSN - 1445-8330
DOI - 10.1111/j.1447-0349.2006.00415.x
Subject(s) - nursing , mental health , emergency department , general partnership , referral , medicine , nurse practitioners , scope of practice , scope (computer science) , mental health nursing , health care , nurse education , psychiatry , political science , computer science , programming language , law
This paper describes the establishment of a mental health nurse practitioner (MHNP) position in New South Wales, Australia. The authors report on a MHNP role that functions collaboratively within a large inner city emergency department. Attention is centred on what constitutes advanced mental health nursing practice in the emergency department setting. Three areas associated with the work of MHNPs – therapeutic techniques, prescribing and care coordination and referral – are highlighted to explore the scope of the MHNP role. The authors propose that the success of this position is based on a process of consultation and evaluation, partnership between disciplines and clinical services and the role maintaining a truly nursing focus rather than attempting to replace or replicate psychiatric medicine.