Discuss the role of mental health nurses in acute inpatient care settings in terms of physical assessment.
The mental health nurse in the acute inpatient environment has the responsibility for the ongoing physical assessment of consumers in their care, and with the clear correlation between poor physical health and mental illness now understood (Chadwick, Street, McAndrew & Deacon, 2012) the importance of this roll need not be understated.
Mental health nurses have the initial and ongoing commitment to both the physical and psychiatric wellbeing of persons in their care to attempt to minimise the increased prevalence of conditions including hypertension, obesity, hyperlipidaemia, diabetes, cardio vascular disease and respiratory illness, that