Psychiatric nursing liaison in a combat zone: an autoethnography

Abstract

Military mental health nurses are tasked with providing psychiatric liaison to British forces deployed to combat zones. This forms part of a wider effort to maintain the combat effectiveness of the fighting force. During a recent deployment, I maintained a reflexive journal of my experience of liaising with the British Chain of Command. I then used line by line coding via the NVIVO 9 software package to formulate the core themes that became a framework for this autoethnography. My personality and social anxieties shaped how I performed the psychiatric liaison role. I was able to develop a template for liaison that accounted for both 'me' and my need to feel authentic or credible as a nurse, yet still enabled me to communicate effectively with the Chain of Command. One template for psychiatric nursing liaison with British combat forces is to focus upon key stakeholders within the Chain of Command, specifically, the Officer Commanding, the Sergeant Major, the Trauma Risk Management co-ordinator (usually the Sergeant Major) and the embedded medical asset. Further research is needed to establish how other nurses approach psychiatric nursing liaison.

Mental health nursing in bushfire‐affected communities: An autoethnographic insight

“…I was conscious of the role that I had, that of ‘the clinician’, and what was the best way to introduce myself while maintaining my roles as a public sector employee, a colleague, and as a mental health nurse. Whybrow (2013) writes similarly of being a nurse, being themselves, and relating to their employer. I became convinced that my primary role was to just listen.…”

“…Practice reflection is often a private undertaking but autoethnography makes such reflection public. Whybrow (2013) notes that other mental health nurses may not share the same views but maintains that elements of autoethnography might resonate with other nurses and inform their practice. I sincerely believe that there is no harm in exploring mental health nursing through practice reflection and academia and in fact, we are all professionally obliged to do one and/or the other.…”

“…Further, there are few autoethnographic studies in mental health/psychiatric nursing, with Foster et al . (2005), Gardner and Lane (2010), Peterson (2017), and Whybrow (2013) the only contributors to this small body of work despite explicit support for it in the profession (Foster et al . 2006).…”

A case for the use of autoethnography in nursing research

“…Autoethnography stems from the ontological assumption that reality is multifaceted (Whybrow ). The researcher is the ‘epistemological and ontological nexus’ of the research process (Spry p. 711) and the self is considered to be in the best position to know and therefore write about its own life (Johnstone ).…”

“…Autoethnography stems from the ontological assumption that reality is multifaceted (Whybrow 2013). The researcher Why is this research or review needed?…”