What Do Mental Health Nursing Students Study At University?

Mental health nursing is a career that includes interaction with patients suffering from severe mental illness, which is a big responsibility and comes with its challenges. Whether you are an aspiring nurse or a current student, getting to know the study plan that prepares you for this unique field is mandatory. 

This blog explains in detail the practices and theories you will come across through your mental health nursing curriculum. From core subjects to elective courses, this blog also provides the answer to What do mental health nursing students study at university.

What is Mental Health Nursing?

A mental health nurse provides extra care to patients with mental disturbances. They assist psychiatrists and physicians in creating a treatment plan for these patients, offer moral support to the patient’s families, and guide patients about the intervention they require.

From hospitals to psychiatric wards, mental health nurses play a crucial role in providing special protection to patients of all age groups. 

Core Subjects in Mental Health Nursing at University

Managing patients who are already suffering mentally requires a different kind of understanding and patience. University courses for mental health nurses consist of theoretical as well as clinical skills-enhancing subjects. 

Foundations of Nursing Practice

This subject comprises basic concepts that are needed in nursing including understanding the health care principles and their importance in the hospital setting.

From an introduction to nursing theory which highlights the roles and responsibilities of a nurse to communication skills that foster the sense of conveying your message to the patients, and their families and avoid misunderstandings through clear communication between health care workers.

Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing

One of the most crucial Mental health nursing degree subjects, psychiatric and mental health nursing focuses on understanding mental health disorders such as anxiety, stress, mood, and personality disorders. 

Along with this, getting to know the treatment plans and the right patient care strategies to provide adequate care to the patients are taught. Deep comprehension regarding these conditions forms the base of your Mental health nursing education.

Anatomy and Physiology

Subjects like anatomy and physiology assist you in understanding the human body and its functions, which is crucial for any nursing role. They especially focus on the parts of the nervous system and their linkage with neurological symptoms to diagnose a condition. 

Psychology for Nurses

This subject focuses on basic psychological concepts and their application in patient care. Psychological theories provide reasons for certain patient reactions and emotional responses display a keen understanding of situations triggering them.

It also assists nurses in taking actions that will take care of the patient’s emotional needs and provide them with a trustworthy environment for their treatment. 

Pharmacology

Although nurses cannot prescribe medications, pharmacology is still one of the Mental health nursing topics that involves the study of medications such as antipsychotics and antidepressants, their effects to administer at the right time, possible side effects, and safe administration techniques in case a patient gets uncontrollable or needs emergency therapy.

We understand that managing these courses can be difficult with a life having other responsibilities but you can always avail of services like pay someone to take my online nursing exam to make your life easier. 

Elective and Specialized Courses

There are certain specialized Courses for mental health nursing students and taking them is optional, but they come with extra benefits of adding more proficiency in professional life. 

Therapeutic Communication Techniques

Patients battling with mental illness need special ways to listen to your advice. This course offers them skills for effectively communicating with patients, building their trust, and providing them with a comfortable environment.

Mastering these techniques also makes you capable of understanding various body languages and predicting any possible actions that the patient might take. 

Community Mental Health Nursing

This subject takes a step outside healthcare and informs you about ways to provide care in community settings, including outreach and crisis intervention instead of hospitals. 

You get an idea of practicing in different areas and exploring the challenges and learning that come with these. 

Substance Abuse and Addiction

This is a significant neurological addiction, mostly found in teenagers where they cannot limit their intake of drugs. Studying these subjects makes nurses well aware of understanding the causes leading to addiction, treatment modalities, and the nurse’s role in recovery processes such as rehabilitation. 

You also get to learn the right strategies to manage conditions such as relapses politely and professionally.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Children are sensitive and need delicate treatments. This subject focuses on pediatric and adolescent mental issues such as ADHD, family traumas, OCD, and anxiety. 

You learn the right ways to handle these children allowing them to speak regarding their experiences and bring a sense of serenity in them through providing solutions and care.

Advanced Mental Health Nursing Practices

This contains courses focusing on advanced diagnostics, care strategies, and patient management. This subject will be more interesting for students who mainly want to gain more certifications in mental health and gain a more advanced position in mental health nursing. 

Mental health case scenarios, Laws and regulations, and new policies regarding mental health are some areas covered. 

Practical Components and Clinical Placements

To gain relevant expertise, nurses are supposed to complete certain clinical hours and gain skills from these. 

Let’s take a look at what Mental health nursing education demands from you!

Explanation of Clinical Hours Required

To ensure you graduate with experience in vast areas of nursing as well as getting familiar with hospital settings, the Mental health nursing curriculum expects you to complete a minimum of 1000 clinical hours that includes your hands-on practice on the patients.

Overview of Placement Settings

Students are exposed to a hospital environment where they come across numerous cases in the psychiatry ward and emergencies. Community clinics ensure experience in the process of treatments through outpatient settings. 

Private practices are also offered to more severe cases that require extra care and attention.

Skills Gained During Placements

Under experienced professionals, students may observe skills that assess patients on their behavior and diagnose a mental health condition. 

The treatment planning for different patients according to their conditions and ways to administer medications in certain conditions. 

Students can also learn how senior nurses or psychiatrists build their trust with the patient through what kind of effective communication techniques. 

Skills Developed During the Course

Mental health nursing topics and courses taught during classes are more broadly covered through clinical experiences.  Let’s take a look at the skills you acquire during the course: 

Critical Thinking

Mental health is an unpredictable field, where you can expect patient behavior to change anytime, leaving you confused and finding ways how to tackle the situation. 

Courses for mental health nursing students are crafted in such a way that you experience these complex situations practically and observe the actions taken by professionals. 

These enhance your critical thinking skills assuring that whenever you encounter such a situation, within a minimum time range you analyze the situation correctly and take relevant action free of risks.

Empathy and Communication

Offering empathy is necessary to mental health patients as their minds are already tangled with the difficulties of the problem they are suffering from. Mental health nursing education ensures students adapt gentle practices to deal with patients.

Building rapport and trust with patients offers them emotional support and a flexible environment to share more regarding what’s going on in their minds. These open conversations create more chances of diagnosing situations and the progress of the patient. 

Students also fear interacting with these patients due to their risky behavior. However, practicing continuously removes their fears and sets a positive attitude to help these patients.

Teamwork

The skills of teamwork are adapted through collaborating with multidisciplinary teams of psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians, and senior nurses. The mental health nursing curriculum emphasizes the importance of teamwork in planning treatment, sharing patient updates, and getting united for the recovery of patients.

A team together provides more robust and holistic care for physical as well as mental health than an individual healthcare worker does.

Problem-Solving

University courses for mental health nurses ensure that students are capable of identifying patient needs and crafting tailored care solutions. Mental health patients come with various symptoms and each patient may have a different story to tell.

Through clinical experiences, students are made proficient enough to judge the situation and provide the right personalized treatments. 

Career Pathways After Studying Mental Health Nursing:

After Successful completion of Mental health nursing education, you have several options to pursue ahead, lets have a look at these more specialized roles!

Registered Mental Health Nurse

• A registered mental health nurse is someone who has completed their bachelor’s or associate degree in nursing, passed their NCLEX-RN exam, and started practicing in a mental health department.
• Additionally, for more career advancements, you can also apply for mental health certifications but they are not necessary.
• Registered mental health nurses develop treatment plans in collaboration with physicians and psychiatrists, assess the patient, provide medications, and educate the patient’s family regarding their condition. 
• Their job scope usually lies in hospitals, outpatient clinical settings, clinics, and private facilities. 

Psychiatric Nurse

Psychiatric nurses provide mental health services to patients of all age groups and ensure that patients do not harm anyone including themselves. They mainly provide support to patients with disorders such as Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.

• Psychiatric nurse duties include:
• Resolving any fights
• Showing extreme patience with the patients
• Understanding their circumstances and treating them as patients despite their behavior
• Evaluating patient
• Updating patient family
• Providing medications to the patients

 Community Health Nurse

A community health nurse serves and educates local communities about healthy practices, preventive measures, and how to take advantage of health care services.

They ensure smooth communication between healthcare facilities and less privileged people who don’t know about certain diseases and their treatment options.

They assist communities with vaccinations and checkups at an affordable rate.

Some of the Community Health Nurse duties include:

• Taking responsibility for a community to provide them health care services.
• Educating people regarding diseases.
• Providing basic medical services at patients’ homes.
• Monitoring common health conditions like diabetes, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels.
• Explaining the advantages of insurance and the need to avail health care services. 

Opportunities For Further Specialization 

Nurse Practitioner

A nurse practitioner is someone who has gained an Advanced practice registered nurse license. This is the highest form of nursing which allows you to perform the tasks generally performed by a physician.

At this stage, you are allowed to diagnose patients by ordering lab tests and providing them with treatment through medications.

Nurse practitioners make independent decisions which sometimes don’t even need a doctor’s approval.

Interested in becoming one? Let’s take a look at the steps you need to take to become a Nurse practitioner. 

• Complete your Bachelors in Nursing Degree.
• Become a Registered Nurse through passing exams.
• Gain relevant clinical experience.
• Apply for a Masters in Nursing or Doctor of Nursing Practice Program. 
• Gain certification for an APRN license by providing your documents.

 Clinical Nurse Specialist

Whereas a Nurse practitioner serves more in treating patients, a clinical nurse gains a specialty in fields such as adult health, adult gerontology, pediatrics, neonatal, and public health and focuses on research to offer patients better health care services^. 

^{To become a clinical nurse specialist you need to follow the same steps as the nurse practitioner, the difference lies at the end point where you need to certify yourself from any of the specialties mentioned above.}

^Conclusion

Mental health is a reputable as well as a demanding career, expecting you to gain expertise in theoretical as well as practical aspects of your career. Mental Health Nursing Topics include basic topics subjects such as foundations of nursing practice, psychiatric and mental health nursing, and anatomy as well as elective courses on advanced mental health nursing practices and substance abuse addiction. The blend of comprehensive knowledge from these subjects and practice through clinical placements is the best opportunity to grow your nursing career and develop skills such as critical thinking, communication, teamwork, and problem-solving.

The mental health nursing curriculum is created in such a way that masters you in the field of nursing and makes it convenient for you to select specialties like becoming a registered mental health nurse to a nurse practitioner that can provide medications to the student. 

If you are an aspiring Mental health nurse or a current student, the roadway is long and you might be unable to balance academic life with personal commitments.  Let services like Take A Class For Me assist you and ease your burden.