Caring for Patients with Mental Health Disorders

The purpose of this (2) hour course is to provide nurses and other healthcare providers with guidelines to assist in the identification and care of patients with co-occurring mental and physical health disorders in the acute care setting. The course will meet this goal by providing strategies to identify potential mental health issues, improve communication, identify safety concerns, and improve outcomes for this vulnerable patient population.

By the end of this course, you will have the skills to:

✔️ Identify the prevalence of mental illness in the United States.

✔️ Describe factors that necessitate acute care hospitalization of patients with mental health conditions.

✔️ Discuss general patient care goals when caring for an individual with a co-occurring mental and physical health disorder.

✔️ Summarize behaviors observed in the acute care setting often associated with mental health and mental illness.

✔️ Describe how stigma or patient labeling can impact nursing care.

✔️ Define reflective practice and identify how it might be used to improve professional practice.

✔️ Define counter-transference and identify how to recognize it.

✔️ Identify the components of a therapeutic nurse-patient relationship.

✔️ Describe techniques used during active listening.

✔️ Define the criteria for nurse self-disclosure within a therapeutic nurse patient relationship.

✔️ Identify potential safety concerns when caring for patients with mental health disorders.