NURS20163 Mental Health Care Nurse Role And Governance - Assignment Solution

• Introduction 

Australian health care sector is guided by the vision to continually improve health and wellbeing of all Australian, in present as well as in future. Based on this vision, many reforms are introduced in Australian Health Care sector and role of nursing is also innovated to assure effective delivery of health care services. Based on contemporary nursing roles, the mental health care is highly important as there exist substantial interplay between mental health, physical health and behaviour of people. Based on importance of this role, mental health nursing is chosen for this portfolio, which is aimed to offer holistic care to community members and to offer interventions for betterment of mental wellbeing of population. The underlying portfolio has been divided into different sections with an aim of gaining deeper insight of nursing role in provision of mental health care. Firstly, the details are offered on nursing role by describing the prevalence of mental health conditions in Australia and by defining patient base. Likewise, in this section, scope of mental health nurse role is also provided by highlighting the nature of required care, autonomy and work settings. Secondly, the governance of nursing in general and specifically for mental health care nursing is highlighted. Thirdly, the peak bodies of mental health care nursing are discussed by gaining insight of relevant research.  

• Nursing Role

Australian health care system is considered as one of the most innovative across the world and it adopts pioneering practices to care of common conditions of person’ mental state, such as depression among others. Based on increasing mental health care needs of population, the mental health care nursing is one of the identified role which I would wish to return to. As noted by WHO (world health organization) the overall health of individual depends largely on mental health and mental illness is linked with behavioural as well as physical issues, which highlights importance of mental health care (Australia Bureau of Statistics, 2018). The National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing (NSMHWB) has mentioned that among adult population (aged 16 to 85 years), around 45% population is likely to experience any mental health condition at some stage of their life, which is making up 8.6 million people based on population of 2016 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2019). Moreover, it was noted that around 14% population experiences anxiety and 6% of population experiences depression at any stage in their lives. Moreover, the findings of NSMHWB conducted on children and adolescents has highlighted that every 1 of 7 children and adolescents experience some kind of mental condition. It can be viewed in figure that common conditions are; conduct disorder, depressive disorder, anxiety and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2019). 

It has also been agreed by the researchers that mental health illness can lead to psychotic illness among population, might lead to distortion of thinking, personality disorders and issues in emotional response. Moreover, as noted in recent survey, around 2 to 3% of Australians have been diagnosed by severe conditions of mental health disorders, 4 to 6% of population has moderate mental disorder and 9 to 125 have mild mental health disorder (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018). Finally, it is addressable that mental disorder make 23% contribution in condition of non-fatal burden of disease and is measured by loss of healthy life years based on mental disability. All of these facts shed light on the devastating effects of mental health illness in Australia and also show importance of role of mental health care profession. 

The role of mental health care nurse require competence obtained through specialized knowledge, skills and experience, such that critical thinking can be carried out to understand issues of clients and offering need specific care (Byrne, Schoeppe & Bradshaw, 2018). For instance, assessment of dysfunction, assistance to establish coping mechanism, enhancement of strength and prevention of further progress in disability are some major goals in mental health nursing role (Edward et al., 2015). The services might include; inpatient care, partial hospitalization, outpatient care, residential services and community based services for patients with mental health issues. The nurses are offered substantial autonomy to make clinical decisions mainly with the collaboration of practitioner or psychiatric (Ennis, Happell & Reid‐Searl, 2015). The aim is to offer comfort to patient and to assure greater emotional support to families of patients. The work settings might be characterized by shift based work, which require continual engagement with the patient (Happell, Wilson & McNamara, 2015). The role of nursing require strong emotional connection and empathy towards patients, which demands for mindfulness and emotional resilience.