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By Johntra Gkoltera

One of the many challenging, yet most satisfying, career options in nursing profession is that of being a psychiatric nurse. Psychiatric nursing is that branch of nursing profession where the registered nurse, having some additional qualifications and experience, is entrusted the responsibility of dealing with and treating patients suffering from some sort of mental disorders or conditions of mental distress such as schizophrenia, dementia or depression, to name a few.

The unstable mind, curious and, at times, shocking behavior of the patients makes the work of the psychiatric nursing so challenging that it requires something more than just nursing to become a psychiatric nurse. The challenge becomes more challenging with each patient having his or her own characteristic way of mental disorder.

The psychiatric nurse or mental health nurse, as he or she is otherwise called, has to, bear in mind the following fundamental things or beliefs before taking the responsibility of providing nursing assistance to a patient challenged by some sort of a mental disorder.

1. The primary objective of the psychiatric nurse should always be the well-being of the patient and not just the cure of the disease or temporary relief. In other words, the nurse should ensure that the patient, suffering from mental disorders, should transform himself or herself to a normal person capable of independently leading his or her own life outside of the hospital atmosphere.

2. The responsibility of a psychiatric nurse is slightly different from that of other registered nurses. The nurse should view the patient as a person having a set of beliefs, customs, practices, strengths and unique qualities, and not just concentrate on the illness of disease.

3. The nurse should extend assistance to a mental illness patient only when the patient is unable to meet the need by himself or herself. In other words, the nurse should come to picture only when the patient finds difficulty or could not perform his or her own normal routine duties.

4. Another important point every psychiatric nurse should bear in mind is that the patient is only responsible for his or her own feelings, actions as well as thoughts, and no other third person can influence the feelings of the patient. It is true that the thought process might have been affected by the disorder, but the patient is only responsible for the feelings, thoughts and/or actions.

5. The psychiatric nurse should know that the patient being treated is a human being and not just a toy for administering treatment for the disease. The patient should be involved in the treatment process and without the active co-operation and better relationship between the patient and the nurse, the disease cannot be cured in its entirety.

6. The psychiatric nurse will be concentrating more on the emotional problems of a patient than other forms of disease that affect the body alone. For a better emotional state of mind, the patient needs to cease his or her dependence of chemical components such as tobacco, caffeine, and such other things. The nurse should lay more emphasis during treatment in achieving a better emotional health in addition to physical health, because a right balance between the emotional health and the physical health is essential for a person to have a better quality life, free from mental disorders.

The above-mentioned are some of the fundamental aspects that a psychiatric nurse should always bear in mind while interacting with a patient suffering from mental disorders.

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