Collegian
Volume 16, Issue 3 , Pages 139-146, July 2009

Preparing nurses with enhanced mental health knowledge and skill: A major in mental health

  • Amanda Kenny

      Affiliations

    • Faculty of Health Sciences, La Trobe University Bendigo Campus, PO Box 199, Victoria, Australia
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +61 3 5444 7545; fax: +61 3 5444 7977.
    • ,
  • Sue McConnachie

      Affiliations

    • Division of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health Sciences, La Trobe University Bendigo Campus, Victoria, Australia
    • Tel.: +61 3 5444 7422; fax: +61 3 5444 7977.
    • ,
  • Eileen Petrie

      Affiliations

    • Division of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health Sciences, La Trobe University Albury Wodonga Campus, Victoria, Australia
    • Tel.: +61 2 6024 9719; fax: +61 2 6024 9737.
    • ,
  • Gerry Farrell

      Affiliations

    • Division of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health Sciences, La Trobe University Bundoora Campus, Victoria, Australia
    • Tel.: +61 3 9479 5868; fax: +61 3 9479 5842.

Received 31 July 2008; received in revised form 21 October 2008; accepted 5 November 2008. published online 22 April 2009.

Summary 

In Australia, since the early 1990s there has been a significant change to the way in which mental illness has been managed. Major government reforms resulted in the ‘mainstreaming’ of mental health care, with a significant reduction in the numbers of psychiatric hospitals. This significant policy change resulted in the demise of direct entry, specialist mental health nurse education that was the main provider of the mental health workforce. In theory, since that time, nurses have been prepared for practice through a comprehensive degree program; however, there is strong evidence to suggest that the mental health content in the comprehensive program is well below what is needed for nurses to have the knowledge and skill to provide effective mental health care. This article reports on the development of an innovative curriculum designed to prepare an appropriately qualified nursing workforce with enhanced mental health knowledge and skill to be responsive to the changing nature of health service delivery.

Keywords: Mental health, Nurse education

 

PII: S1322-7696(08)00068-1

doi:10.1016/j.colegn.2008.11.001

Collegian
Volume 16, Issue 3 , Pages 139-146, July 2009

Article Tools

* Image Usage & Resolution