NURS – 6003N Transition to Graduate Study for Nursing week 1 discussion
Networking Opportunities
I am a registered nurse, graduated in 2020. I currently work in an acute care psychiatric facility and volunteer for a foundation that provides care to the mentally ill. I treat patients with several complex medical and mental health disorders. Though most of the patients I have been providing nursing care have medical problems, I frequently encounter patients with mental health illnesses. Over time, I have grown to learn that mental illnesses are as serious as other health problems. During my clinical rotation at various hospitals, I noticed patients with underlying mental health problems get admitted to the medical-surgical unit for medical treatments. During such times, those patients often get less attention regarding their mental illnesses, such as delay in administering their psychotropic medications, lack of therapeutic communication, and failure to provide appropriate milieu therapy. As a result, those patients do not experience the anticipated quality of patient care as other patients. According to the National Institute of Mental Health. (2021, January), mental illnesses are prevalent in the United States. In 2019, nearly one in five (51.5 million) U.S. adults live with a mental illness. My goal is to function as a mental health nurse practitioner to provide resources to connect the vulnerable population with their community resources and prescribe appropriate medication to treat their illness.
While searching for a reputable school to pursue my graduate studies as a psychiatric nurse practitioner, a colleague recommended me to explore Walden’s Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program. I was impressed by the Walden University’s quality, flexibility, and high academic standards for my intended program. The Walden University’s mission is to provide “A diverse community career professionals with the opportunity to transform themselves as scholar-practitioners to affect positive social change” (Walden University, 2021, para 1) is also consistent with my values, goals, and expectations.
Walden University is also aware of the social change within the community as a deliberate process of creating and applying ideas, strategies, and actions to promote the dignity and development of individuals, cultures, communities, institutions, and organizations. (Walden University, 2011 b). As a health care agent, I recognize the impact of quality education on making a positive difference in our society. I hope the Walden University is the right choice to get a quality advanced education, which equips me to be an ambassador to the vulnerable population and fight for a quality health care system for those who need it the most.
References
Walden University. (2011b). Vision, mission, and goals. Retrieved from https://catalog.waldenu.edu/content.php?catoid=153&navo
Walden University. (2017). Social Change Report. Retrieved from https://www.waldenu.edu/-/media/walden/files/about-walden/walden-university-2017-social-change-report-final-v-2.pdf?
National Institute of Mental Health. (2021, January) Prevalence of Any Mental Illness (AMI). Substance Abuse and Mental health Services Administration. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness.shtml
response
It is nice to see how passionate you are about mental health. As a nursing student, I learned that no matter what field a nurse goes into, they will always have to be aware of their patients’ mental health. Even on a basic level, many patients on medical or surgical floors experience fear or anxiety about their hospitalization. I try to be aware of my patient’s mental state and their feelings, as well as that of their family members. Even so, I still have a lot of opportunities for improvement. You explain that one in five adults likely have a mental illness. According to Tingle (2018), one in ten children have a mental illness, and it is anticipated that this number is an underestimate. This leads me to believe that if there was increased access to mental health resources for children and young adults, many of these individuals could likely receive adequate support and treatment, which could hypothetically lead to a lower incidence of mental illnesses found in adults.
I also elected Walden as my FNP university because of its high-quality education while also being flexible to the students they serve. If I receive a high-quality education, I will have increased potential to impact my patients in the future positively. Nurses with a master’s degree provide higher-quality, evidence-based care than nurses without a master’s (Kjellaas et al., 2020). This is just one of the many reasons I am looking forward to this degree, as I will likely have higher job satisfaction knowing that I am providing better care.
Kjellaas, S., Fredheim, G., & Moen, Ø. L. (2020). Registered nurses’ experiences with master’s degree competence in the specialist health service: A qualitative descriptive study. Nordic Journal of Nursing Research, 40(4), 221–228. https://doi.org/10.1177/2057158520946028
Tingle, J. (2018). A crisis point for mental health care. British Journal of Nursing, 27(7), 412–413. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.12968/bjon.2018.27.7.412
response 2
I have experienced this sad scenario as well over the years. I worked for a major health network in my area and I would often have to fight for my psychiatric patients to be seen medically. The medical staff would brush them off as somatic until their conditions worsened. All we could do was document how hard we tried to get patients the care they needed. I understand that patients can be very somatic at times but that should not be the assumptions when we bring an issue to the medical staff’s attention. I had one patient who was psychotic and in restraints. We felt she was going into rhabod and the Hospitalist did not want to order a CK level. She also asked us “What would they do with her on a medical floor?” due to the patient’s behaviors. It would be so frustrating to see my patients struggling and not one medical staffer was interested in helping them.
