Paper
Friday, July 15, 2005
Patient Problems, Nursing Interventions, and Outcomes in Mental Health Nursing: Findings of a Delphi Survey
P. Anne Scott, RGN, BA, (Mod), MSc, PhD1, Padraig MacNeela, BSc, PhD2, Margaret P. Treacy, RGN, BA, MSc, PhD3, and Abbey Hyde, RGN, BSocSc, MSocSc, PhD3. (1) School of Nursing, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland, (2) Department of Psychology, National University of Ireland, Galway, Galway, Ireland, (3) School of Nursing and Midwifery, University College, Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| Learning Objective #1: Discuss the contribution of mental health nurses to the care of clients in the mental health services in Ireland |
| Learning Objective #2: Delineate the psychological, social, and physical interventions of the mental health nurse while caring for the client with mental health difficulties |
Health Nursing (Psychiatric Nursing) is a largely unexplored territory in Ireland. However, despite this research deficit, Irish mental health nurses claim they provide an essential input to the care of clients with psychological and social difficulties. Nonetheless consensus is lacking on the activities carried out by mental health nurses in their direct and indirect contributions to client care. The aim of the study was to devise a robust, practice-focused depiction of the tasks and roles that mental health nurses perform. The Delphi survey method was the chosen research method given the lack of consensus on the input of mental health nurses in the Irish health service. In this case, a three-round Delphi survey was carried out to gain agreement between practitioners on the principal elements of mental health nursing care in Ireland. The respondents were mental health nurses working in acute admission units, high dependency community hostels and day centres. Respondents rated a set of patient problems, nursing interventions and patient outcomes set out in an original survey tool. Ratings were based on frequency of occurrence, the perceived importance of items, and the perceived relevance of items to the individual respondent's actual practice. Respondents were also invited to suggest item additions and revisions. Items used in round one were generated through a review of nursing minimum data sets and nursing classification systems, an analysis of 43 documentary records of mental health nursing care and ten focus group interviews with nurses. The results to be presented focus on the priority respondents gave to particular patient problems, nursing interventions and patient outcomes. Results are further organised in terms of the physical, psychological and social domains of assessment, activity and outcomes involved in mental health care.