Mental health issues are still one of those things that
nurses often struggle with. We learn about the stigmas of mental health and
pride ourselves, as nurses, in being understanding but the truth is, many of us
still don’t know how to care for our patients with mental illness. I’ve heard
from many students during mental heath rotations, “once this is over, I’m never
working in mental heath.” The problem with that statement is, no matter where
you work, you will see patients with mental illness in your practice. They are
ordinary people! A teen with depression can still break their arm; a lady with
a personality disorder can still be hospitalized for pneumonia; a man with
schizophrenia can still have a heart attack, still need an immunization. It
doesn’t matter where you practice, what specialty you have, anyone can have any
number of health issues that underlies their current primary diagnosis.
As a passionate nursing student, I feel it’s my job to treat
every person with the same dignity and respect as the next. I’ve had some
experience with community mental health and acute psychiatry and although I
still have a lot to learn, I feel like I am fulfilling my goals to provide that
fair care. I’m happy to say that with our year 3 theme of complexity at my
school, many of my classmates DO understand the fact that all areas of care
need training in mental health skills.
Here’s something else to think about. Mental health theory
and knowledge is also required of every REGISTERED nurse in Canada. SO, if
you’re planning to write the CNRE, then you best have at least a baseline of
mental health knowledge. Thankfully PRIMED has a specific mental heath practice
quiz for the CNRE so you can test your knowledge and find the areas that you
need more learning in.
For more resources on mental heath, a good place to start is
the Canadian Mental Health Nurses Association http://cfmhn.ca.
Happy Studying!
