[Activities of psychiatric nurses working in short-stay hospital psychiatric wards]

Abstract

During the nursing period the person who has psychological problems goes through a transitional period, in which he becomes responsible for coping with his problems, which are being expressed in various ways. It has been observed that when a new patient is admitted to the hospital, some of his first affects as well as those of his relatives ones are anxiety and fear. What a nurse has to do is to cope with these (affects symptoms) by trying to come into communication with the patient who will start feeling accepted and the nurse will be able to approach and examine all the sides of the patient's personality (both the healthy and the unhealthy ones). The nurse can help the patient to recover to health, only if he or she knows the patient's sides of personality. Full record of all the information drawn through observation of the personal interviews with the patient is kept in the sheet of nursing notes and consists part of the nursing care history. The full and accurate keeping of the nursing care history combined with the medical and social record is very helpful in the assessment of the patient.