Impacts of psychiatric nursing work on the well-being of nurses
Psychiatric nurses play a vital role in promoting the mental well-being of people suffering from mental health disorders. People suffering from mental health disorders are treated in psychiatric hospitals, wards and units. The working environment in a psychiatric unit or hospital is highly distressful which is why special attention to the well-being of nurses should be given.
One in every five people in Finland and globally nine hundred seventy million people are suffering from mental health disorders (WHO, 2022; Marttunen et al., 2014). With an increasing number of people suffering from mental health disorders, caseloads in a psychiatric ward are high and challenging.
Nurses have a significant role in promoting their patient’s mental health. Nurses spent a substantial amount of time dealing with highly distressful patients, which also impacts their own health. It is crucial to address the problems of psychiatric nurses and maintain nurses’ well-being to provide quality care to patients. The nature of psychiatric nursing work and various other factors present in their working environment has impacts on their well-being.
Nature of psychiatric nursing work
Psychiatric nursing is a specialized field of nursing that provides holistic care to people suffering from mental disorders and behavioural problems to promote their physical and psychosocial well-being. There are several types of mental health disorders like anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, etc.
Mental disorder is described as a disturbance in individual’s cognition and emotional regulation. Mental health disorder is also termed as mental health condition, emotional distress, impairment in functioning, or risk of self-harm. Nurses working in psychiatric nursing focus on utilizing interpersonal connections to understand their patients and use their skills to communicate effectively. A therapeutic relationship is professional, and empathetic yet has boundaries. They spend most of their time working on establishing a caring therapeutic relationship and helping mental patients to rediscover their mental well-being.
Factors affecting the nurse’s well-being
Psychiatric nurses’ responsibility is to help their patients to regain their mental well-being. Psychiatric nurses can be exposed to highly distressed, aggressive, violent, and disturbed patients. Additionally, on numerous occasions, nurses may use coercive interventions and isolation of patients. This sometimes can be morally distressful to nurses. Coercive interventions, physical and mental violence, early discharge of the patient, value incongruence between nurses and the system, bullying, conflict, and workload have adverse impacts on mental and physical health.
The well-being of psychiatric nurses is paramount in providing quality care to the patient suffering from mental health disorders.
Nurses in various cases suffer from insomnia, hypertension, palpitations, tiredness traumatization disorder, substance abuse, depression, and anxiety. The development of strategies and alternative methods to prevent coercive interventions can be useful to protect nurses from mental stress.
Awareness and attention increasing well-being
Developing awareness training, trauma-informed education programs, and conducting critical informative events are significant to promote the well-being of psychiatric nurses. The well-being of psychiatric nurses is paramount in providing quality care to the patient suffering from mental health disorders.
In conclusion, health care has become emotionally distant and the profession’s longstanding attachment to caring through interpersonal relationships has been overridden by a high-value technology, fast-track system of care management. To retain the principles and ethos of nursing at the center of health development, attention must be given to the micro-environments in which nurses work.
References
Marttunen, M., Kärkkäinen, J., Suvisaari, J. (2014). Mielenterveyspalvelut. In Erhola, M., Vaarama, M., Pekurinen, M., Jonsson, P. M., Junnila, M., Hämäläinen, P. & Linnosmaa, I. (2014). SOTE-uudistuksen vaikutusten ennakkoarviointi. Retrieved from https://www.julkari.fi/handle/10024/115008
WHO. (2022). Mental disorders. Assessed:12.05.2023 Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-disorders
Permanent address: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe20231212153531