Enhancing Mental Health Nursing Practice

Introduction

In nursing, reflection is important because it assists nurses to recognize their strength and limitation that is used to guide their on-going learning process to be better in delivering quality care (Reljić et al., 2019). The current reflection is to be made regarding my mental health nursing practice by following Borton Reflection Model. The Borton Reflective model is to be used because it is easy to implement and allows straightforward analysis of personal activities to determine one’s strength and weakness regarding skills and knowledge (Maiden, 2017). The Borton’s model consist of three stages which are What?, So what and Now What? (Delves-Yates, 2021).

What?

In the mental health nursing practice, I was allocated to take care of a patient suffering from Schizophrenia who is 67 years old. During the practice, I was able to relate with the way his illness was interfering his daily life and the needs as well as demands in care to be fulfilled. This is because I understood regarding the way his hallucinations and delusions are hindering his consciousness regarding reality and the care needed to assist him develop the consciousness to achieve well-being. I show effective empathy and compassion regarding the patient’s condition. This is evident as I never objected to his irrelevant behaviour by behaving rude and always showed acknowledgement towards his disturbed mental state along with supported him to share his feeling to assist him control them. However, I was unable to effectively communicate at times with the patient to understand his needs and demands due to his irrelevant use of words which created hindrance for me to deliver satisfactory care to him. Moreover, I expressed hindrance with working in a team which is evident as I would often involve into argument with individuals in the multi-disciplinary team regarding setting care for the patient. During the care, person-centered care to the patient was provided by consulting with him which was unable to be maintained at some instances.

So What?

The mental health theories and illness informs regarding the way of development of hindered psychological behaviour and way to support the person to alleviate their pain regarding mental condition (Naslund et al., 2017). I expressed effective understanding of the theories which is going to act as strength because it would help me determine the way his behaviour was hindered and the actions to be focused to improve them. The NMC Code “Prioritise People” mentions that all patients are to be treated with empathy, respect and compassion (NMC, 2018). This is because respect, empathy and compassion make the patients feel valued and understood by the nurses which eventually helps in developing enhanced rapport of the patient with the nurses (Horgan et al., 2021).

In caring for the schizophrenia patient, I always tried to consider his emotions and behaviour and never acted in a rude manner with him. I tried to show that I feel his pain regarding the current mental health condition and ensure I am by his side to support him in overcoming the situation. It led to ensure I have effective strength in showing compassion, respect and empathy towards mentally ill patient. The ethics in care is to be maintained to avoid violation of legal obligations and care policies along with ensure enhanced concern, responsibility and consciousness regarding care is showcased by the nurses (Mora, 2021). In caring for the patient, I expressed active ethical knowledge which acted as my strength because it helped me to show enhanced responsibility for the patient and protect from any unnecessary harm due to violation of moral values.

In mental healthcare, multi-disciplinary team working is essential to support varied care required from different experts professional for the enhanced health and well-being of patients (Keville et al., 2017). However, I failed to express enhanced team working abilities which acted as my weakness in care. This is because failure to execute enhanced team working led me to face complication in delivering quality care needed for meeting all the care needs of the patient. The NMC Code of conduct mentions that enhanced communication with the patients is to be maintained (NMC, 2018). This is important because enhanced communication with the patient makes the nurses identify their key needs and demands regarding care along with share enhanced information to gather perspective and decision regarding care to implement person-centred support (McMillan et al., 2018). However, I expressed hindrance in communication ability with the patient as I lacked understanding in certain context regarding the way to interact with him which makes it one of the weakness in providing care.

Now What?

In the current condition, two key skills that are communication ability and team working are to be improved. In order to improve communication, I would involve in training session. This is because training help in understanding the actions for enhanced communication and way they are to be enacted to ensure effective development of interaction with the patient by the nurses (). Moreover, I need to improve my body language and active listening ability to support in making enhanced communication with the patients who are mentally ill in future. I would also try to develop increased patience and manage my emotions by interacting with the experienced nurses regarding the way the aspects can be achieved which is needed for my enhanced communication ability.

In order to improve team working skill, I would involve in executing enhanced communication with each of the team members prior to the discussion of care regarding the patient. Moreover, I intend to develop rapport by understanding the goal of each team member and expand my support towards them to develop effective team working in delivering care. I would also like to develop clarification of role and responsibilities of each member to avoid conflict between one another in caring for the patient.

Conclusion

The above discussion mentions that I have ability to empathize with people and effective understating of mental health theories and illness as my strength. Mu weaken are communication skill and team working ability for which training and assistance from experienced nurses are required to improve them.

References

Delves-Yates, C., 2021. What is Reflection?. Beginner′ s Guide to Reflective Practice in Nursing, p.5.

Horgan, A., O Donovan, M., Manning, F., Doody, R., Savage, E., Dorrity, C., O’Sullivan, H., Goodwin, J., Greaney, S., Biering, P. and Bjornsson, E., 2021. ‘Meet Me Where I Am’: Mental health service users’ perspectives on the desirable qualities of a mental health nurse. International journal of mental health nursing, 30(1), pp.136-147.

Keville, S., Conlan, L.M., Adlington, B., Brindley, R., Abraham-Smith, K., Shaverin, L., Simpson, L. and Nel, P.W., 2017. Can voicing conflict within experiential learning groups facilitate connection? building and developing effective multi-disciplinary team-working skills. Reflective Practice, 18(1), pp.55-66.

Maiden, G., 2017. Using reflection and visual representation to analyse and build leadership capacity, through a personal account of exemplary leadership. International Practice Development Journal, 7(2).pp.56-90.

McMillan, S.S., Kelly, F., Hattingh, H.L., Fowler, J.L., Mihala, G. and Wheeler, A.J., 2018. The impact of a person-centred community pharmacy mental health medication support service on consumer outcomes. Journal of Mental Health, 27(2), pp.164-173.

Mora, E., 2021. Ethics of care and public mental health care: a case study in Barcelona. Salud Colectiva, 17, pp.e2966-e2966.

Naslund, J.A., Aschbrenner, K.A., Kim, S.J., McHugo, G.J., Unützer, J., Bartels, S.J. and Marsch, L.A., 2017. Health behavior models for informing digital technology interventions for individuals with mental illness. Psychiatric rehabilitation journal, 40(3), p.325.

NMC 2018, The Code, Available at: https://www.nmc.org.uk/globalassets/sitedocuments/nmc-publications/nmc-code.pdf [Accessed on: 4 June 2021]

Reljić, N.M., Pajnkihar, M. and Fekonja, Z., 2019. Self-reflection during first clinical practice: The experiences of nursing students. Nurse education today, 72, pp.61-66.