Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Essay

Nursing has become a very dynamic role as it is constantly changing and evolving. The number of people entering the nursing field continues to increase. The responsibilities nurses are held accountable for are very diverse and demanding. Mental health nursing is one of the many diverse fields a nurse must be educated in. A nurse must be competent in attending to a patient’s mental health as it is something that pertains to all patients regardless of race, origin, or religion. “There is growing recognition that health services must move beyond the responsibility of simply providing clinical and curative services to increasing attention on the benefits of promoting mental health and well-being” (Wand and White, 2007, p. 404). The focus of this

Participants from this study support the Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (MHNP), and recognize that these nurses do have the skill set for requirements to provide primary care. One of the biggest complements from the research was shortened steps among assessment, referral, evaluation, and therapy. This new position is still being researched and implemented in E.Rs in Australia and other parts of the world. “The MHNP outpatient service has the potential to be of enormous benefit to patients, the health-care system, and to the nursing profession.” (Wand and White, 2007, p. 411). In the student’s future nursing practice in the E.R, this could be a tremendous benefit. The student plans to expand their health care knowledge and becoming a nurse practitioner may be an option. If this is a career path of the student, they would be able to help in E.R settings with diverse patients, if that be traumatic injury or mental illness. The student overall would be able to help both groups of patients and provide help to move mental health care in the United States in the direction that Australia is

The student can either become a nurse practitioner or can become a crisis worker. The biggest task would be taking this research from Australia and England, and implementing it and incorporating it into American health care facilities. Trying to help move the United States health care system toward more mental health illness prevention might be something the student looks into in their future practice. The main goal of the student in future practice is that mental health is something that appears in all units, and is something that the student nurses need to be familiar with and have a basic understanding, so that they would be able to help those