Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses
"Since that day, my life hasn't been the same. I fell into severe depression, and I'd stay in my room for days without leaving it. I couldn't sleep or eat, to the point that I lost more than 30 kilograms, and my head always hurt — I had a constant, chronic headache." That's how 20-year-old Amer described the depression that gripped him for nearly two years after his brother died in an accident. Amer explained to the BBC that he wasn't able to get his life back until he started his journey of psychological treatment. Do you know how many people around the world suffer from depression? According to 2019 World Health Organization statistics, there are 280 million people living with depression, including 23 million children and adolescents. Depression is one of the conditions tied to mental health, one of the forms of psychological disorder that now affects most people in our era — the number of people with mental disorders worldwide has reached nearly a billion. Examples of these disorders include obsessive-compulsive disorder, substance abuse, schizophrenia, panic attacks, severe anxiety, and many others. That's why countries around the world have recently begun paying close attention to mental health professionals — the doctors and nurses on the front line facing these conditions, who are tasked with treating people with mental disorders, helping them recover, and rehabilitating them to reclaim their lives and reintegrate into society. In this piece, we'll go into more detail about what psychiatric nurses actually do in hospitals, centers, and care homes, since their job isn't limited to caring for patients — they also have to educate patients' families and friends about what their loved ones are going through and the challenges they'll face on the road to recovery.
Meet the Writer: Waleed Abo Omiraa
What You'll Actually Do
The core tasks and responsibilities that fill a typical day.
- Participate in activities aimed at professional growth and development, including conferences or continuing education activities.
- Develop practice protocols for mental health problems, based on review and evaluation of published research.
- Develop, implement, or evaluate programs such as outreach activities, community mental health programs, and crisis situation response activities.
- Write prescriptions for psychotropic medications as allowed by state regulations and collaborative practice agreements.
- Refer patients requiring more specialized or complex treatment to psychiatrists, primary care physicians, or other medical specialists.
- Provide routine physical health screenings to detect or monitor problems such as heart disease and diabetes.
- Participate in treatment team conferences regarding diagnosis or treatment of difficult cases.
- Interpret diagnostic or laboratory tests, such as electrocardiograms (EKGs) and renal functioning tests.
- Evaluate patients' behavior to formulate diagnoses or assess treatments.
- Develop and implement treatment plans.
- Monitor patients' medication usage and results.
- Educate patients and family members about mental health and medical conditions, preventive health measures, medications, or treatment plans.
- Distinguish between physiologically- and psychologically-based disorders, and diagnose appropriately.
- Document patients' medical and psychological histories, physical assessment results, diagnoses, treatment plans, prescriptions, or outcomes.
- Consult with psychiatrists or other professionals when unusual or complex cases are encountered.
- Assess patients' mental and physical status, based on the presenting symptoms and complaints.
- Collaborate with interdisciplinary team members, including psychiatrists, psychologists, or nursing staff, to develop, implement, or evaluate treatment plans.
- Administer medications, including those administered by injection.
- Diagnose psychiatric disorders and mental health conditions.
- Conduct individual, group, or family psychotherapy for those with chronic or acute mental disorders.