Implementation of a major in mental health nursing in Australian universities

Abstract

The difficulty recruiting and retaining an adequate mental health nursing workforce is acknowledged. The major in mental health nursing has been identified as a strategy to promote this specialist area of practice as desirable for students' future careers. Measuring its success requires the collection of detailed data about the structure, content, and uptake of these programmes. A survey was specifically developed to elicit descriptive information about the structure and content of a major in mental health nursing programmes. Fourteen universities participated in this research. Eight had implemented a major, one intends to do so in 2011, and five had abandoned or suspended their plans for the major. The findings suggest considerable variation in both structure and content of the major in mental health nursing throughout Australia. Students are required to commit to and commence the programme at differing stages, and there is a substantial variation in the theoretical and clinical content in mental health undertaken as a requirement for the major. The numbers of students taking the major is relatively small in most universities; however, the retention rates are favourable. These findings provide important data for discussion about the ideal structure and content of a major in mental health nursing.

Addressing the mental health nurse shortage: Undergraduate nursing students working as assistants in nursing in inpatient mental health settings

“…It has been reported in the literature that the introduction of Bachelor Nursing programmes in Australia has created difficulties in recruiting sufficient graduates into mental health nursing. There is limited mental health nursing in undergraduate nursing programmes and few mental health nurse academics, therefore there is little incentive for undergraduate students studying nursing to consider mental health nursing as a career option . Some authors report that the students are discouraged from mental health nursing .…”

“…In nursing homes and general hospitals, AINs' work is focused on spending time with patients. In mental health nursing, the main focus of nursing is on direct patient contact, but because of the workloads, mental health nurses reported that it was difficult to find the time to spend with patients on inpatient units …”

A Major Stream in Mental Health in Undergraduate Nursing Programmes: Identifying the Benefits and Acknowledging the Innovation

“…A major stream refers to the inclusion of additional theoretical and/or clinical learning in mental health nursing to enable nursing students to gain more experience in this specialist area, while still meeting the requirements as a comprehensively prepared nurse (Happell, Moxham, & Clarke, 2011;Kenny, McConnachie, Petrie, & Farrell, 2009;Mental Health Nurse Education Taskforce, 2008).…”

Perspectives of Australian Nursing Directors Regarding Educational Preparation for Mental Health Nursing Practice

“…The implementation of major streams in mental health nurses was an initiative designed to provide students the opportunity to undertake additional theory and clinical experience in mental health if they elected to do so (Happell, Moxham, & Clarke, 2011;Kenny, McConnachie, Petrie, & Farrell, 2009;Mental Health Nurse Education Taskforce, 2008). However, the introduction of major streams in Australia was not accompanied by any guidelines defining the requirements and consequently, some majors included only minimal addition of theory and/or clinical content.…”