Red Cross Nursing

Teaching patients about the merits of being hygienic, precautions to be taken for cure, and such other things related to the betterment of a patient are normal duties a nurse is expected to do and all nurses are taught to do, as part of their learning process.

Teaching patients who are of stable mind will not be so difficult a task and will be related with the disease and the prevention of the disease.  However, teaching patients affected by mental health disorders requires some special skills – the skills that are to be found more so in teachers in the primary school and more so in all mothers who are the first teacher to their son or daughter.

The role of a psychiatric nurse is not just providing care and assistance in the cure of the ailment, but total and whole care of the patient, a patient who has a serious problem with his or her mental growth and capability.  The type and nature of teaching will not be the same for all the psychiatric patients and each patient requires specific and individual care.  That makes the job more challenging and interesting for a psychiatric nurse.

Before assuming the role of a teacher for a psychiatric patient, the nurse has to take a deep look on the assessment record of the patient, and look out for the following things about the patient:

• The patient’s level or understanding capability and knowledge
• Patient’s present state of mind and the emotional requirements
• What needs to be taught to the patient should be ascertained
• Psychiatric patients are generally perceived to have unstable mind.  Assessing the level of concentration, orientation, and attentiveness assumes prime importance
• Level of understanding or the literacy level of the patient

These are some of the basic things that a psychiatric nurse should ascertain before embarking on the job of teaching the psychiatric patient, the basic things, things that will help the patient do things independently, try to take decisions independently and fell confident about himself or herself.

The atmosphere for teaching, or the therapeutic milieu, motivation levels of the patient, learning disabilities and such other things should also be taken into consideration by the psychiatric nurse.

It is the responsibility of the psychiatric nurse to determine the right mode of education for the patient, give due consideration to the behavior, literacy level, understanding capability, concentration levels, attentiveness and such other related aspects.  Teaching psychiatric patients can take place in many different modes.  It can be in the form of lecture to the group; giving written instructions in the form of pictures, or drawings, – depending upon the level of literacy of patients, role-playing activities, recreational activities and/or such other related activities aimed primarily at educating the psychiatric patient and striving to transform that patient to a normal person.  Involving the patients active in the learning process, making them perform or repeat the actions carried out by the nurse or in role-playing activities would be an ideal way of making the patients learn the things in a better way.

Blog post by Nursing Blog.