As a nurse I dont feel equipped to treat patients with mental health problems Nurses qualify with little training in mental health. Is it surprising that sometimes care falls short as a result?
I once heard a nurse tell a patient, who was half dressed and standing in a corridor screaming, to stop acting like a child. I wondered how somebody committed to caring could show such a lack of empathy to somebody so unwell. After years of working in and around the NHS and having qualified as a nurse, I am no longer surprised that the care of people with mental health problems in hospital sometimes falls short. I know that I too have fallen short.
I look after the same people in hospital now whom I met working untrained for mental health support groups. People struggling to cope with poverty, people without support networks, people with chronic illness, people who have lived through awful things. According to Mind, one in four people experience mental health problems each year. This statistic covers a complex range of problems which are as varied and profound as physical illness. Continue reading... The Guardian
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