Patients with psychiatric illness often visit the emergency department when in an urgent situation. It is estimated that about 10% of all patients in the emergency department suffer from psychiatric disorders. Nevertheless, this is not considered the accurate estimation as most of the patients do not have the adequate diagnosis. According to Goulter, et al., (2015), it is believed that more than 40% of adults and 35% of minors who frequent the emergency department with non-psychiatric disorders indeed have undiagnosed mental disorders. The challenge nurse face when dealing with psychiatric patients during emergency situations is understanding how to deal with causative factors such as trauma. Their inability to detect such an issue is often translated as benign neglect, which causes the psychiatric patients to experience unpleasantness and therefore unsatisfactory treatment outcomes (Goulter, et al., 2015).
In that regard, nurses play a significant role in emergency departments when taking care of psychiatric patients, firstly they support patients with severe conditions by responding to their emotional and physical needs to offer effective care, during such instances the nurses deal with particular symptoms of psychiatric illness, to reduce stressful situations to help patients defeat their psychiatric challenges as per Betz, et al., (2016). Secondly, nurses give advice on the condition of patients to their families and care-givers. Therefore, it becomes easy to create care plans for psychiatric patients at home to minimize emergencies. Lastly, nurses are responsible for organizing therapy sessions to improve mental recovery. Despite the challenges nurses face when handling emergency situations affecting psychiatric patients, they provide medical care to reduce acute conditions.
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References
Betz, M. E., Wintersteen, M., Boudreaux, E. D., Brown, G., Capoccia, L., Currier, G. ... & Moutier, C. (2016). Reducing suicide risk: challenges and opportunities in the emergency department. Annals of emergency medicine, 68(6), 758-765.
Goulter, N., Kavanagh, D. J., & Gardner, G. (2015). What keeps nurses busy in the mental health setting?. Journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing, 22(6), 449-456.
