Greek mental health nurses' practices and attitudes in the management of acute cases

Issues Ment Health Nurs. 2013 Mar;34(3):192-7. doi: 10.3109/01612840.2012.733908.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify nurses' interventions, views, and attitudes concerning critical incidents. Using semi-structured interviews, a descriptive study was conducted among mental health nurses working in three major psychiatric hospitals. Analysis of nurses' audio-recorded data indicated that they had used a number of different interventions under six main categories: counseling, performing security practices, monitoring thinking disturbances, contacting the psychiatrist on-call, contacting the chief nurse on-call, and administering medication. The need for specialized training was noticed and problems like accountability, nurse-patient interactions, and nurse-doctor relationships were considered crucial by the mental health nurses.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Acute Disease
  • Adult
  • Cooperative Behavior
  • Counseling
  • Crisis Intervention*
  • Cross-Cultural Comparison*
  • Female
  • Greece
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice*
  • Hospitals, Psychiatric
  • Humans
  • Inservice Training
  • Interdisciplinary Communication
  • Male
  • Mental Disorders / drug therapy
  • Mental Disorders / nursing*
  • Nurse-Patient Relations
  • Physician-Nurse Relations
  • Psychiatric Nursing* / education
  • Psychotropic Drugs / administration & dosage
  • Security Measures
  • Thinking

Substances

  • Psychotropic Drugs