NURS1007 Mental Illness Assignment Sample

• Subject Code : NURS1007
• University : The University of Sydney My Assignment Services is not sponsored or endorsed by this college or university.
• Subject Name : Nursing

Health Research

Introduction to Mental Illness

This is the case study given in which Janice and Samprit are two nursing students who are very excited to work in the Intensive care unit and emergency department, respectively. Janice wants to serve in the Intensive care unit because she is keen to make differences for un-well patients. On the other hand, Samprit wishes to work in the emergency department to use quick thinking and fast action to save lives. Janice and Samprit both are not concerned about the rising ratio of mentally ill patients. They are not willing to experience mental illness, mental health recovery, consumer and caregiver centered approaches, and the most mental health disorders. However, Janice and Samprit must understand the importance of mental illness and their impact on physical and mental health issues. In general, mental health refers to the emotional, behavioral, and cognitive well-being of a person. It deals with the way people think, feel, and behave. Mental health should be looked after because it preserves the ability of a person to enjoy life. This involves having a balance in efforts, responsibilities, and activities of daily life (Van Spijker, Salinas-Perez, Mendoza, et al., 2019).

Mental health affects daily living, physical health, and the relationship of a person with others. The person gets affected by conditions such as anxiety, depression, and stress that affect the person in their routine life. Although, psychological disorders are also the major disorders that have a strong link with mental illness (Coates & Howe, 2015). In Australia, people aged 16-85 are experienced to suffer from mental illness. It has been found that in Australia, the most common mental illness found is substance use disorder, depression, and anxiety (Astell-Burt & Feng, 2019). The data presented the figures that 20% of Australians are found to be affected by 20% each year from mental illness, 11.5% have more than one disorder, and 8.5% are estimated to have more than one disorder. Almost half of Australians like 45% are expected to experience mental illness in their lifetime (Chen, Hall & Ling et al., 2017).

Janice and Samprit must have an interest in serving for mental illness by looking at the prevalence of mental illness in the country. Comorbidities of mental and physical health are having a drastic increase in proportion size. Comorbidity is increasing rapidly when the person is young and thus creating troublesome conditions for all. Mental illness comorbidity is overlooked in the healthcare scenario and the major focus is on physical health. The non-psychiatric consultants are increasing with the focus of patients to get treated and the importance of mental illness is underestimated (Tan, Meyer & Neill et al., 2020). Various physical illnesses and a mental disorder are rarely clear so single-disease treatment in the conditions is not possible.

Nursing professionals like Janice and Samprit are also a contributor to not providing care for mental health issues. There is a great demand for psychiatric nursing because mostly all people in Australia have health insurance Medicare, and also the provision of Mental Health Act proper implementation (Meurk, Whiteford & Head et al., 2015). This has given rise to a 58 percent increase in psychological wellbeing nursing positions. This is the field that is the quickest-growing non-physician disciplines today. The government of Australia is also focusing on the provision of psychological wellbeing public services and diminishing stigma near mental health conditions (Hashmi, Alam & Gow, 2020). Physical and mental health can impact each other because there is a strong relationship between both. The person said to be suffering from mental health is having greater chances to develop cardiovascular diseases and other chronic conditions. Moreover, mental health impacts people's quality of life and not understanding the link between the mind and the body. Social determinants of health have a larger impact on both physical and mental health as they include key aspects of prevention such as access to nutritious food, social support, and ensuring adequate income (Lawrence, Johnson & Hafekost et al., 2015).

Janice and Samprit must know the recovery model of treatment utilized by psychological health facilities to improve their practice. The recovery model is the patient-centered and holistic approach to mental health services (Happell, Platania-Phung & Bocking et al., 2018). This was designed to gain impetus over the past decade and is developing the benchmark for mental health care. The model states that recovery from mental illness is possible with effective patient-directed care. If the person is suffering from mental illness, the basic guidelines of the recovery health model are used to advocate the patient for better healthcare (Edwards, Gray & Hunter, 2015). The framework helps in describing gaps in service. Healthcare providers follow all the values of the model to give their inputs in treating patients. The main aim of the model is that recovery is possible in mental health to lead a successful and satisfying life (Longman, Bennett-Levy & Matthews et al., 2019).

Practitioners and nursing professionals earlier thought that patients with psychological fitness conditions were destined to live with mental illness for the whole of their life and would not be able to contribute to society (Harris, Diminic & Reavley et al., 2015). The belief is particularly meant for those who are suffering from schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Grassroots change is not enough system to increase power in the health society. The change is possible and involves the role of nursing professionals by advocating the patients on their treatment. This way patient began showing lived experience with proper support for active cases in the community. The characteristics of the model are a universal view of a person’s life. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) defines recovery of a model for the patients suffering from substance use disorders or mental disorders (Spears, Taddeo & Daly et al., 2015).

This is the process for change over through which people improve the wellbeing and wellness of people and strive to achieve their potential. Moreover, the recovery model includes stresses and the model of social support and connectedness. When people have good and supportive relationships, they offer unconditional love to cope up with the symptoms of illness and recovery. Healthcare professionals, nurses, psychiatrists, and psychologists are involved in aiding a specific degree, but the participation of friends, family, and peers is also important (Ogloff, Talevski & Lemphers et al., 2015). Principles of treatment through recovery model includes striving to incorporate into care by emerging from hope, address trauma, culturally-based influence, support from peers and allies, and occur through many pathways (Gardiner, Coleman & Teoh et al., 2019). Moreover, the model involves the community, family, and individual powers and accountability based on regard and person-driven approach. Janice and Samprit must understand the importance of this model to get involved in mental health care and community wellness.

The mental status examination is important for clinical assessment including psychiatric and neurological practice. This is a definite and structured way of describing and observing the psychological functioning of a person at a given time. The domains include behavior, mood, attitude, appearance, content, thought, affect, perception, insight, cognition, and judgment. The purpose of the patient’s mental state is combined with historical and biographical information of the psychiatric history ((Van Spijker et al., 2019). This allows clinicians to make an accurate formulation and diagnosis, which requires coherent treatment planning. The mental status examination is the structured assessment of a patient's behavior and cognitive functioning. It includes general behavior and appearance, motor and speech, thought and perception, higher cognitive ability, attitude, and insight for a description of the patient. The specific cognitive functions include alertness, memory, language, and abstract reasoning for clinical relevancy (Chen et al., 2017). The mental status examination allows healthcare professionals to use a structured and systematic approach than other examinations of patients.

The mental status examination is sometimes threatening to patients and requires and requires much cooperation on the part of the patient. The mental status examination is the overall evaluation to build some degree of rapport with the examiner and patient. The mental state of the patient describes the sensitivity and accuracy of the patient and this is added in the template with another medical history. The clinician must develop behavior to assess mental status by unstructured observations during routine medical and physical history. This way patient gets helped in describing the history of present illness that reveals alertness, speech, attitude, affect, and general appearance (Meurk et al., 2015). Level of consciousness is assessed by the medical practitioner and this helps in referring the state of wakefulness of patient and depends both upon cortical components and brain stream. The levels operationally define the strength of stimuli needed to present the response as accepted. The normal level of consciousness of a patient is the ability of an individual to react at a lower level of intensity like most individuals who are behaving without neurologic malformation. This will lead to better generalization of patients to determine the severity of disability and lesion for constructional disability (Happell et al., 2018).

Janice and Samprit should perform all the tasks relevant to take care of mental health patients such as provide education to patients and raise understanding of psychological health issues. The work should encourage good psychological health procedures and offer tools for early case discovery and acknowledgment of mental health problems. The links should be established with patients and local health services for rehabilitation, treatment, and referral services. However, these efforts will benefit the wellness of patients and reducing social as well as economic costs to address mental health problems (Harris et al., 2015). Janice and Samprit must understand the importance of working to address mental health issues of patients by quantifying the impact of work, social recognition, self-esteem, and the significance of promoting the mental health of patients. They must encourage the skills and development of physical contact, equitable pay, and opportunity of interpersonal contact. Actions should also include the assistance of employees in altering the work and work environment.

It enables workers to remain motivated for improving the health of patients. Overall, Janice and Samprit should work to achieve the targets of improving and understanding mental illness so that they could have an interest in serving in this field (Longman et al., 2019). They must continue to develop local comprehensive services and promote good practices in mental health promotion at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. This will help in reducing mortality as the component of the overall health system. Nursing professionals should attend an appropriate healthcare professional before taking any final decision to work. Health promotion activities should be included to mark the working days due to illness and diseases. The extra encouragement to praise the job is needed so that they do not feel stress and risk on their job (Meurk et al., 2015).

Conclusion on Mental Illness

Mental health needs in Australia should be addressed by the professionals to provide a picture of the mental health needs of patients. Janice and Samprit should both progressively contribute to reducing the burden of 4.3 million people who received mental health prescriptions, by providing adequate care. Mental health is the key to overall health and well-being of affected people. This is caused by multiple factors such as socio-economic, physical health, and environmental health. Janice and Samprit should understand that there is a great relation between physical and mental health. A wide range of mental health services is provided by the Australian government for admitted as well as residential care patients. National health strategies have been developed that involve the commitment of staff for better services to staff and coordination. Nursing professionals must eagerly participate in delivering mental health services as it is equally important as an emergency and acute care in the hospital. Moreover, the rising trend of affected people due to mental health problems should be estimated and take steps accordingly.

References for Mental Illness

Astell-Burt, T., & Feng, X. (2019). Association of urban green space with mental health and general health among adults in Australia. JAMA Network Open, 2(7), e198209-e198209. 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.8209

Chen, W., Hall, B. J., Ling, L., & Renzaho, A. M. (2017). Pre-migration and post-migration factors associated with mental health in humanitarian migrants in Australia and the moderation effect of post-migration stressors: Findings from the first wave data of the BNLA cohort study. The Lancet Psychiatry, 4(3), 218-229. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(17)30032-9

Coates, D. D., & Howe, D. (2015). The design and development of staff wellbeing initiatives: staff stressors, burnout, and emotional exhaustion at children and young people's mental health in Australia. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 42(6), 655-663. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10488-014-0599-4

Edwards, B., Gray, M., & Hunter, B. (2015). The impact of drought on mental health in rural and regional Australia. Social Indicators Research, 121(1), 177-194. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11205-014-0638-2

Gardiner, F. W., Coleman, M., Teoh, N., Harwood, A., Coffee, N. T., Gale, L., ... & Laverty, M. (2019). Aeromedical retrievals of people for mental health care and the low level of clinical support in rural and remote Australia. Medical Journal of Australia, 211(8), 351-356. https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.50272

Happell, B., Platania-Phung, C., Bocking, J., Scholz, B., Horgan, A., Manning, F., ... & Pullo, J. (2018). Nursing students’ attitudes towards people diagnosed with mental illness and mental health nursing: An international project from Europe and Australia. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 39(10), 829-839. https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2018.1489921

Harris, M. G., Diminic, S., Reavley, N., Baxter, A., Pirkis, J., & Whiteford, H. A. (2015). Males' mental health disadvantage: An estimation of gender-specific changes in service utilization for mental and substance use disorders in Australia. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 49(9), 821-832. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0004867415577434

Hashmi, R., Alam, K., & Gow, J. (2020). Socioeconomic inequalities in mental health in Australia: Explaining life shock exposure. Health Policy, 124(1), 97-105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2019.10.011

Lawrence, D., Johnson, S., Hafekost, J., Boterhoven de Haan, K., Sawyer, M., Ainley, J., & Zubrick, S. R. (2015). The mental health of children and adolescents: Report on the second Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing. https://research.acer.edu.au/well_being/1/

Longman, J. M., Bennett-Levy, J., Matthews, V., Berry, H. L., Passey, M. E., Rolfe, M., ... & Bailie, R. (2019). Rationale and methods for a cross-sectional study of mental health and wellbeing following river flooding in rural Australia, using a community-academic partnership approach. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 1255. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-019-7501-y

Meurk, C., Whiteford, H., Head, B., Hall, W., & Carah, N. (2015). Media and evidence-informed policy development: The case of mental health in Australia. Contemporary Social Science, 10(2), 160-170. https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2015.1053970

Ogloff, J. R., Talevski, D., Lemphers, A., Wood, M., & Simmons, M. (2015). Co-occurring mental illness, substance use disorders, and antisocial personality disorder among clients of forensic mental health services. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 38(1), 16. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/prj0000088

Spears, B. A., Taddeo, C. M., Daly, A. L., Stretton, A., & Karklins, L. T. (2015). Cyberbullying, help-seeking, and mental health in young Australians: Implications for public health. International Journal of Public Health, 60(2), 219-226. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00038-014-0642-y

Tan, E. J., Meyer, D., Neill, E., Phillipou, A., Toh, W. L., Van Rheenen, T. E., & Rossell, S. L. (2020). <? covid19?> Considerations for assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in Australia. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 0004867420947815. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0004867420947815

Van Spijker, B. A., Salinas-Perez, J. A., Mendoza, J., Bell, T., Bagheri, N., Furst, M. A., ... & Salvador-Carulla, L. (2019). Service availability and capacity in rural mental health in Australia: Analysing gaps using an Integrated Mental Health Atlas. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 53(10), 1000-1012. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0004867419857809

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