Caring for the Entire Unit: Psychiatric Nurses' Use of Awareness

Abstract

Psychiatric nurses have a level of responsibility for everyone residing on the unit, which contributes to the need to nurse the population on the unit as a whole. Because the knowledge base regarding psychiatric nursing interventions in acute care settings is limited, this hermeneutic phenomenological study explored psychiatric nurses' experiences in providing nursing interventions to adult clients in acute care settings. Six expert psychiatric nurses were recruited through purposive, snowball sampling and were interviewed individually to gain a rich understanding of the psychiatric nursing interventions they provided to adult clients in acute care mental health settings. Analysis of the data revealed themes of awareness and person-centered care. This article focuses on the theme of Awareness , with subthemes of self-awareness , awareness of the client , and situational awareness . Situational awareness in psychiatric nursing has remained generally unexplored, and this research adds to the current knowledge base. Implications for practice, research, and education are discussed. [ Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 57 (9), 17–23.]

Development and Testing of a Measure of Self-awareness Among Nurses

“…Although all of these aspects are essential, the nursing literature significantly highlights the role of contextual awareness in clinical settings. For example, Thomson et al (2019), based on the interviews with six psychiatric nurses, also noted that situational awareness and awareness of patients and their situations play an essential role in providing effective and contextualized care. Rasheed et al (2019) also noted that deliberate and relational awareness must be practiced in clinical settings to allow for the greater use of therapeutic self for patient care.…”

Student Nurses’ Caring With Awareness in a Higher Education Institution in South Africa

“…They complete tasks without paying attention to what they are doing as they run on automatic. In order to provide caring, ensure safety, and prevent adverse events in a hospital setting, student nurses need to be aware (Thomson et al, 2019). Paying attention is a necessity in a hospital setting (Thomson et al, 2019), and enables the student nurse to notice errors made by other members of the multidisciplinary team.…”

“…Matshaka (2018) argues that awareness can be associated with human presence. A student nurse with self-knowledge and awareness will provide effective caring to the patients (Lee et al, 2017; Thomson et al, 2019), suggesting that the student nurse is present and conscious in a caring encounter. When caring for the patient consciously and being present in the moment, the student will be able to will able to portray love and empathy to the patient.…”

“…Lack of awareness could pose a danger to the patient and the student nurse. Medical errors and missed care are potential products of a lack of awareness because the student may not act consciously (Latimer et al, 2017; Orique & Despins, 2018; Thomson et al, 2019).…”

Role and application of self‐awareness in managerial practice: A qualitative study of nurse managers

“…The highlighted significance of self‐awareness for nurse managers warrants that research should be focused on exploring the views and perspectives of nurse managers about the role and contribution of self‐awareness in management settings. Only three studies explored the views of front‐line nurses in general and mental health settings about self‐awareness (Ramvi, 2015; Thomson et al., 2019; Younas et al., 2020). However, no research has explored the perceptions of nurse managers about self‐awareness.…”