Citation

Peart T, Kerr D, Searby A. Int. J. Ment. Health Nurs. 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Australian College of Mental Health Nurses Inc., Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/inm.13108

PMID

36562518

Abstract

Emergency departments are often the first point of contact for individuals presenting to healthcare services for assistance and treatment for mental ill health. Emergency departments, particularly those in regional areas, can experience high staff turnover and rely on novice nurses for workforce sustainability. The aim of this paper is to explore the experiences of novice nurses (nurses with <3 years of experience) in providing care to individuals presenting with mental ill health in the emergency department. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with novice nurses (N = 13) in a regional emergency department, using qualitative description as the guiding framework. The following three main themes were identified: (i) confidence in providing quality and safe nursing care, (ii) perceived barriers to providing quality and safe nursing care, and (iii) factors that increase confidence. Our findings indicate that proving safe and appropriate nursing care is affected in novice nurses by factors that lead to a perceived lack of confidence, such as how individuals present to the emergency department (e.g. intoxicated or violent), an inability to conduct conversations to assess accurately and perceived shortfalls in the emergency department environment itself. Future research should examine the curriculum for relevance of undergraduate education regarding acute mental health presentations and develop training strategies that enhance communication with individuals who present to the emergency department with mental ill health.

Language: en

Keywords

mental health; emergency medical services; qualitative; emergency service, hospital; novice nurses; nursing staff, hospital