Psychiatric nursing is a demanding yet rewarding sector of healthcare. This specialized field brings nurses head to head with complex mental health issues, societal stigmas and ethical dilemmas. This means that they need technical education to enhance their mental health patient care knowledge. 

Psychiatric nurses should therefore enroll for further education in psychiatric nursing to understand mental health disorders and the ethical framework that guides them. This enhanced level of understanding distinguishes the job role of psychiatric nurse practitioner vs. psychiatrist and how these professionals cater to their patients. Educational initiatives such as the post-graduate degree at Spring Arbor University is a great option to ensure that graduates have a wealth of career opportunities. 

This article will discuss several ways that further education can prepare nursing students for their roles as psychiatric nurses. 

Ways that further education prepares nurses for ethical challenges in psychiatry

Like many fields in nursing, psychiatry has its good and challenging moments. Below are a number of ways that further education can help you navigate these moments.

Enhanced understanding of mental health disorders 

Most basic nursing education just touches upon the introductory knowledge of psychiatric nursing without going deep into the field. Pursuing further education allows psychiatric nurses to deeply understand their field, including the complexities and rewards that come with it. For instance, while basic nursing training might provide an overview of mood disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder, specialized psychiatric nursing courses explore the different subtypes and evolving theories on what causes these disorders and their treatment. 

Having a deep knowledge of mental health disorders helps nurses diagnose patients better. Nurses who undergo advanced training and skill acquisition can better recognize subtle or unusual manifestations of mental health disorders in their patients. For example, if a patient comes in with irritability rather than the classic symptoms of sadness, an educationally advanced psychiatric nurse may diagnose the patient with atypical depression. 

It also aids in formulating effective and individualized treatment plans. A practical example of this is that knowing the various types of psychotherapy treatments, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), allows psychiatric nurses to contribute in interdisciplinary discussions about the most appropriate treatment modalities for a specific patient. Discussing these treatment options improves the patient’s outcomes and minimizes the ethical dilemmas surrounding ineffective or inappropriate treatment. 

Evidence-based practice

Every activity of the psychiatric nurse must be backed by years of experience and evidence-based practices. Using evidence-based practices means that you’re conscious of the latest research and clinical evidence that informs how to improve patient care. These practices provide practical treatment ideas that are vital to maintaining your practice’s ethical integrity.

How does this relate to ethical decision-making? Evidence-based practices help you stay grounded in empirical evidence rather than intuition or peer opinion. This means that when treating a patient with major depressive disorder, the knowledge can guide how you recommend scientifically backed treatments. This improves the efficacy of your treatment approach (as they have been validated to work). For example, a patient with major depressive disorder can be helped with a psychotherapy model such as CBT over traditional practice models.

Evidence-based models also help to minimize ethical concerns in the profession. As ethical principles of appropriate care back your activities, you’re aligned with methods that advocate for patient health. In the long term, you could avoid any ethical dilemmas due to offering treatments based on harmful and ineffective outdated practices.

Ethical frameworks

The nurse’s role in psychiatry comes with dilemmas from patient confidentiality, treatment approach and bias, and end-of-life decisions. There are ethical frameworks that help structure your approach to resolving these dilemmas. These frameworks enable the psychiatric nurse to make professional decisions without compromising the patient’s rights. Further education is required to learn these structured frameworks, as without them, you can make mistakes while relying on logic.

Further education covers the core principles of bioethics, including autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice. These principles are the building blocks for ethical decision-making. For example, the principle of autonomy emphasizes the patient’s right to make independent choices about their healthcare. Understanding this principle helps psychiatric nurses navigate complex scenarios where a patient’s wish may conflict with medical advice. How, then, do you apply these ethical theories?

When advanced courses explain theories such as deontology, utilitarianism and virtue ethics, the nurse must approach them from multiple angles for a nuanced decision-making process. For instance, a deontological approach focuses on the rules governing ethical behavior, while a utilitarian approach aims for the greatest good for the greatest number. This means that the utilitarian approach determines what is right or wrong by focusing on the outcomes of the treatment. 

Understanding these theories helps you articulate your reasons behind any decisions you make regarding a patient’s health. However, you wouldn’t know this without advanced education that simulates real-world situations.

Medication management

Pharmacology is essential to psychiatric nursing, considering that medications play a huge role in treating mental health disorders. Taking advanced courses in pharmacology shows nurses how various medications work, their mechanism of action and potential side effects, and how these drugs interact with other medications. This is vital for effective treatment planning with each patient. 

As well as teaching about drugs, advanced pharmacology courses also train psychiatric nurses how to administer medications properly. They must understand dosage, timing and how drugs can interact with the patient’s body to achieve this. For example, some antipsychotic medications may have severe side effects, such as tardive dyskinesia, which causes involuntary movements. Being informed helps psychiatric nurses weigh the risks and benefits of their choice of medication administered.

One of the primary ethical considerations in medication management is informed consent. Nurses must discuss a proposed medication’s benefits, risks and alternatives with the patient before administering it. There are cases where the patient cannot give informed consent, such as severe psychosis, which can make ethical dilemmas even more complex. Advanced education trains nurses on handling these situations. It may be seeking consent from a legal guardian or opting for a temporary treatment order while ensuring that they don’t infringe on the patient’s autonomy. 

When administered, psychiatric medications often have side effects, from mild nausea to more severe outcomes such as metabolic syndromes. Nurses are ethically responsible for monitoring these side effects and acting in the patient’s best interests. Advanced courses in pharmacology train nurses on how to monitor and manage these side effects and adjust the treatment plans if necessary.

Advanced communication skills

Communication is the core of almost every practice in the world today. However, it’s more critical in healthcare, where miscommunication can complicate life and death issues. Advanced communication in psychiatry goes beyond exchanging information – it extends to building trust, developing a therapeutic relationship between the patient and the client, and ensuring shared decision-making. All this means that the client (and other essential professionals) are carried along in your processes so that they feel more involved in the outcomes.

Specialized courses in communication can offer these skills and improve your ability. This ability effectively navigates ethical and complex situations such as end-of-life care or treatment refusal. Advanced communication skills aim to enhance your ability to articulate a care approach, what it means to patients and their parents, and why you took it.

This ability enables psychiatric nurses to facilitate shared decision-making, which involves the patient in their care plan. This respects the patient’s autonomy, enhances their sense of control, and makes them feel more in charge of their health. For example, while explaining treatment options for a depressive disorder, nurses must clarify the potential benefits and challenges, and guide the patient to choose a treatment that aligns with their condition and preferences.

Learning advanced communication also prepares you for more sensitive issues – for example, end-of-life situations. You must balance autonomy, beneficence and non-maleficence in your approach. Therefore, advanced communication skills help you understand that discussing complex topics such as do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders or palliative care options is essential. This means that you get to respect the patient’s wishes, provide the best possible care, and prevent any ethical challenges in your practice.

Legal aspects

Nurses who are aware of medical laws are less likely to break these laws. In the psychiatric field, understanding the legal landscape is crucial, as it directly intersects with ethical practices. Ignoring the law can also lead to unintentional violations that could harm patients and place nurses at professional and legal risk. Advanced courses on healthcare law cover a range of common issues in psychiatric nursing, such as patient confidentiality and informed consent. What do these two issues entail?

Patient confidentiality is a fundamental requirement in healthcare. Nurses who breach confidentiality by disclosing their patients’ conditions to outsiders may damage the relationship between them and their patients. Further education in healthcare law ensures that psychiatric nurses understand the scope and limitations of confidentiality. 

Informed consent is another area where law and ethics overlap significantly. Nurses must know the legal requirements for obtaining valid informed consent for treatments or procedures. Treating patients without consent can be filed as medical malpractice. Courses in healthcare law provide scenarios and case studies that train nurses to navigate the complexities of informed consent. 

Conclusion

Psychiatric nursing requires continuous learning and education to be successful in the role. Whether you’re learning about specific mental disorders or mastering the intricacies of healthcare law, further education is an invaluable resource for professional development.