Psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners (PMHNP) are registered practitioners within the nursing specialty who work with individuals, families, and communities, assessing their mental health needs, conducting therapies and administering the appropriate medication. Psychiatric nurse practitioners are equipped with the poise to plan, diagnose and evaluate the effectiveness of prescribed treatment on their patients as well as plan medical care for those individuals who show the potential of such disorders (Phoenix, 2016). Some of these disorders include anxiety, schizophrenia, eating disorders, personality disorders, addiction, paranoia, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and paranoia among others (WHO, 2017). Psychiatric nurse practitioners may also provide consultancy services for medical staff and families as well. They are also trained to practice autonomously, i.e., they are able to practice in diagnosis and treatment with full authority without physician involvement.
As providers of direct mental health care services, PMHNP practitioners are driven by theories that help them to better their practice in terms of managing different states of illnesses as well as offering support to patients and their families. The primary focus of employing the use of theories in the nursing profession is to improve practice by positively influencing the quality of health and the life of patients. The model of being empirical in nursing practice is highly regarded. It involves employing a qualitative as well as the evaluative approach in problem-solving. This means incorporating the best evidence obtained from well-planned studies as well as patient preferences and their values to come up with the best treatment plan for patients (Garrett, 2018).
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Rationality is also regarded in the psychiatry nursing specialty. This is a theoretical concept of nursing practice that integrates relational and non-relational propositions in the assessment and diagnosis of patients. Psychiatric nurses are often faced with the demands to make decisions and ones that will positively affect patient outcomes for that matter. The complexity of decision making in the nursing practice determines the outcome of the treatment plan and is often subject to having broad knowledge and reliable access to information while integrating relational aspects in the decision-making process.
Serious mental illness (SMI) is a subcategory of mental illnesses. It encompasses 300 of the mental illnesses that are under the diagnostic and statistical manual (DSM) of mental disorders (Boschloo, 2015). Drawing the line between what is considered serious mental illness and non-extreme mental health is rather difficult. While this is so, the extremities of these illnesses are candid. The major mental illnesses considered serious are schizophrenia, severe recurrent depression, and severe bipolar disorder. Nevertheless, other mental disorders may be placed in the serious mental illness category in the event they cause substantial functional impairment as well as significantly limiting major life activities. People with SMI have relatively diminished physical health as well as reduced life expectancy (Scott, 2016). Thus, it is essential for psychiatric nurses to be well versed in this category of mental illnesses. This would ultimately equip them with the knowledge to be able to detect such illnesses early enough, consequently improving the physical care of patients with serious mental illnesses.
Applying the theory of symptom management in SMI aims to prevent or treat an illness as early as possible by assessing the symptoms, and further preventing the physical as well as social problems that may emanate from the illness. The integration of this model of patient care significantly alleviates the physical implications of these disorders, hence improving life expectancy (Kilbourne, 2014). Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior suggests that intention is driven by attitude, prior behavior, and subjective norm. This means that intention is directly proportional to behavior, in that, the stronger the intention, the more likely it is one to constantly perform the behavior (Knaeps, 2016). In SMI, psychiatric nurses are obligated to review the patient’s attitudes on their behaviors and their intentions to overcome the influences. It is only ten that they are able to well understand the mental illness and thus develop a medication plan.
The intervention of the symptom management model among patients with SMI is highly feasible as it offers insight on the potential effectiveness of treatment plans. Thus, there is a close relationship between symptom assessment and management and a desirable physical as well as mental recovery process (Naslund, 2015).
References
Phoenix, B. J., Hurd, M., & Chapman, S. A. (2016). Experience of psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners in public mental health. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 40 (3), 212-224.
World Health Organization. (2017). Depression and other common mental disorders: global health estimates (No. WHO/MSD/MER/2017.2). World Health Organization.
Garrett, B., & Garret, B. (2018). An Empirical Framework for Nursing Practice’, Empirical Nursing.
Boschloo, L., van Borkulo, C. D., Rhemtulla, M., Keyes, K. M., Borsboom, D., & Scchoevers, R. A. (2015). The network structure of symptoms of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. PLoS One, 10 (9), e0137621.
Scott, K. M., Lim, C., Al-Hamzawi, A., Alonso, J., Bruffaerts, R., Caldas-de-Almeida, J., M., … & Kawakami, N. (2016). Association of mental disorders with subsequent chronic physical conditions: world mental health surveys from 17 countries. JAMA psychiatry, 73 (2), 150-158.
Kilbourne, A. M., Bramlet, M., Barbaresso, M. M., Nord, K. M., Goodrich, D. E., Lai, Z., … &Bauer, M. S. (2014). SMI Life Goals: Description of a randomized trial of a Collaborative Care Model to improve outcomes for persons with serious mental illness. Contemporary clinical trials, 39( 1), 74-85.
Knaeps, J., Neyens, I., van Weeghel, J., & Van Audenhove, C. (2016). Counselors’ focus on competitive employment for people with severe mental illness: an application of the theory of planned behavior in vocational rehabilitation programmes. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 44 (1), 57-71.
Naslund, j. a., Marsch, L. A., McHugo, G. J., & Bartels S. J. (2015). Emerging mHealth and eHealth interventions for serious mental illness: a review of the literature. Journal of mental health, 24 (5), 321-332.
