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Psychiatric nurses' communication with psychiatric patients

M.Cur. (Psychiatric Nursing) / The psychiatric nurse, as a member of the multiprofessional mental health team, utilises a goal directed approach to assist the psychiatric patient to mobilise resources to promote, restore and maintain his mental health as an integral part of his quest for wholeness. This goal directed approach is the nursing process which comprises assessment, planning, implementing and evaluation. All four steps of the nursing process and the nurse's interaction wi th the patient are dependent upon therapeutic communication between the nurse and the patient to elicit the necessary information so as to be able to formulate the nursing diagnosis, nursing actions and the patients' outcomes. Therapeutic communication remains important as the core of all nurse-patient interactions. Lack of therapeutic communication with the patient can cause conflict in the patient's internal and external environments since he will be unable to communicate his needs and problems and this will delay the mental health promotion, restoration and maintenance phases. Currently much attention is paid to the pharmacological treatment of the patient as more and more sophisticated psychotropic drugs are produced, and yet the other aspect of the patient's treatment which is equally important is neglected, namely his communication during hospitalisation, especially with the psychiatric nurse as she is the person in direct contact with him and should spend most of her time interacting with him.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:10909
Date24 April 2014
CreatorsSibeko, Catherine Rejoice
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
RightsUniversity of Johannesburg

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