The changing face of psychiatric nursing

REVISITING... MENTAL health nursing

Kevin Gournay is Professor of Psychiatric Nursing at the Institute of Psychiatry (De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK. Tel.: 020 7848 0139; fax: 020 7848 0458; e-mail: Kevingournay{at}aol.com) and is a chartered psychologist and a registered nurse. He has extensive clinical experience in the treatment of anxiety disorders and has a large and wide-ranging research portfolio. He supervises several Medical Research Council research training fellows and sees this area as a priority. He manages research and training projects overseas, and his other widespread interests in mental health include policy work for the Department of Health. In 2004 he was elected Psychiatric Nurse of the Year by the American Psychiatric Nurses Association.

Psychiatric nursing has changed significantly since I wrote a similar article almost 10 years ago. Community psychiatric nurses now focus their attentions almost entirely on people with serious and enduring mental illnesses and undertake case management roles in community teams. Many nurses have now been trained in the use of psychosocial interventions and there have been particular advances in the training of nurses in medication management. In turn, prescribing by nurses has become a reality and this role will expand rapidly over the next few years. Unfortunately, the potential for nurses to deliver cognitive–behavioural therapy to those with common mental disorders has not been realised and it is unlikely that this situation will change. Psychiatric nursing roles have increased in the forensic system and nurses are now working with people with dangerous and severe personality disorders and within prison healthcare. The education and training of nurses has undergone a fundamental shift and nurses of the future are likely to be graduates. Here I discuss the implications of these changes.

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