Chapter 9

The Nursing Process in Psychiatric/Mental

Health Nursing

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 The Nursing Process

• It is a systematic framework for the delivery of

nursing care.
• It uses a problem-solving approach.
• It is goal directed, its objective being the
delivery of quality client care.
• It is dynamic, not static.

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 Standards of Practice

• The standards of practice for psychiatric

nursing are written around the six steps of
the nursing process.
1. Assessment. Information is gathered from
which to establish a client database.

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 Standards of Practice (cont.)

2. Diagnosis. Data from the assessment

are analyzed. Diagnoses and potential
problem statements are formulated and
prioritized.

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 Standards of Practice (cont.)

3. Outcomes identification. Expected outcomes of

care are identified. They must be measurable and
estimate a time for attainment.
• Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC) is a
comprehensive, standardized classification of
patient outcomes developed to evaluate the
effects of nursing interventions.

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 Standards of Practice (cont.)

4. Planning. Evidence-based interventions for

achieving the outcome criteria are selected.
• Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC)
is a comprehensive, standardized language
describing treatments that nurses perform
in all settings and in all specialties.
• NIC interventions are based on research
and reflect current clinical practice.

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 Standards of Practice (cont.)

5. Implementation. Interventions selected during the

planning stage are executed.
• Specific interventions include:
— Coordination of care
— Health teaching and health promotion
— Milieu therapy

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 Standards of Practice (cont.)

Implementation (cont.)
• Pharmacological, biological, and integrative
therapies. These are incorporated with
clinical skills to restore the patient’s health
and prevent further disability.

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 Standards of Practice (cont.)

• Advanced Practice Interventions

– Prescriptive authority and treatment
– Psychotherapy
– Consultation

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 Standards of Practice (cont.)

6. Evaluation measures progress

toward attainment of expected
outcomes.

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 Standards of Practice (cont.)

1. According to the American Nurses

Association (ANA) standards of practice for
psychiatric mental health nurses, which
specific intervention can be implemented by
any psychiatric mental health nurse
generalist?
A. Milieu therapy
B. Psychotherapy
C. Consultation
D. Prescriptive authority

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 Standards of Practice (cont.)

• Correct answer: A
– Milieu therapy, which is the scientific structuring
of the environment in order to affect behavioral
change, is a nursing intervention that can be
implemented by any psychiatric mental health
nurse generalist.

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 Why Nursing Diagnosis?

• The identification and classification of nursing

phenomena began in 1973 with the First National
Conference on Nursing Diagnosis.
• Both general and specialty standards are written
around the six steps of the nursing process, of which
nursing diagnosis is an inherent part.
• It is defined in most state nursing practice acts as a
legal responsibility of nursing.
• It promotes research in nursing.

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 Why Nursing Diagnosis? (cont.)

2. Which nursing diagnosis is written correctly?

A. Risk for social isolation related to low self-esteem

evidenced by staying in room during the day.
B. Low self-esteem related to major depressive disorder
evidenced by childhood abuse.
C. Imbalanced nutrition: less than body requirements related
to suspiciousness evidenced by 20 lbs weight loss.
D. Conduct disorder related to childhood sexual abuse
evidenced by hostile and aggressive behaviors.

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 Why Nursing Diagnosis? (cont.)

• Correct answer: C
– “Imbalanced nutrition: less than body
requirements related to suspiciousness evidenced
by 20 lbs weight loss” is a correctly written
nursing diagnosis. Evidence of a nutritional
problem is documented and the cause of the
problem, suspiciousness, is identified.
“Imbalanced nutrition: less than body
requirements” is an approved NANDA diagnostic
stem.

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 Nursing Case Management

• Case management is a health delivery process whose

goals are to provide quality health care, decrease
fragmentation, enhance the client’s quality of life, and
contain costs.
• Managed care is a concept designed to control the
balance between cost and quality of care. Individuals
receive care based on need, which is determined by
coordinators of the providership.

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 Nursing Case Management (cont.)

• The case manager is the individual

responsible for negotiating with
multiple health-care providers to
obtain a variety of services for the client.
• Critical Pathways of Care (CPCs) are the tools for
provision of care in a case management system. CPCs
are abbreviated plans of care on which outcome-
based guidelines for goal achievement within a
designated length of time have been established.

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 Nursing Case Management (cont.)

– CPCs are used by the entire interdisciplinary team. They

determine which categories of care will be provided, by
what date, and by whom.
– Nurses may be identified as case managers and are
ultimately responsible for ensuring that goals on the CPC
are achieved within the designated time dimension.
– CPCs may be standardized because they are intended to be
used with uncomplicated cases. A CPC can be viewed as a
protocol for clients with problems for which a designated
outcome can be predicted.

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 Applying Nursing Process

Role of the Nurse in Psychiatry

• To assist with the client’s successful adaptation to
stressors within the environment
• Goals are directed toward change in thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors that are age-appropriate and
congruent with local and cultural norms.
• The nurse is a valuable member of the
interdisciplinary team providing a service that is
unique and based on sound knowledge of
psychopathology, scope of practice, and legal
implications of the role.
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 Concept Mapping

• A diagrammatic teaching and learning strategy

• Shows interrelationships among medical and nursing
diagnoses, assessment data, and treatments.
• They are practical, realistic, and time-saving.
• They enhance critical thinking skills.

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 Concept Mapping (cont.)

• Based on the components of the nursing

process
• Helps students develop a holistic view of their
clients

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Documentation of the Nursing Process

• Documentation of the steps of the nursing

process is often considered as evidence in
determining certain cases of negligence by
nurses.
• It is also required by some agencies that
accredit health-care organizations.

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Documentation of the Nursing Process
(cont.)

Examples of documentation that reflect

the use of the nursing process:
•Problem-Oriented Recording (POR)
– Has a list of problems as its basis
– Uses subjective, objective, assessment, plan,
intervention, and evaluation (SOAPIE) format

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Documentation of the Nursing Process
(cont.)
• Focus Charting
– Main perspective is to choose a “focus” for
documentation. A focus may be:
• a nursing diagnosis
• a current client concern or behavior
• a significant change in the client’s status or behavior
• a significant event in the client’s therapy
– The focus cannot be a medical diagnosis.
– Focus charting uses data, action, and response
(DAR) format.

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Documentation of the Nursing Process
(cont.)
• APIE method
– A problem-oriented system
– Uses flow sheets as accompanying documentation
– Uses assessment, problem, intervention, and
evaluation (APIE) format

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 Documentation of the Nursing
Process (cont.)

3. Which charting entry is an example of the

documentation of a subjective symptom?

A. Temperature 101.4o F
B. No muscle rigidity or drooling noted
C. Client is hypervigilant and scanning the
environment.
D. Client states, “I’m seeing green men in my room.”

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Documentation of the Nursing Process
(cont.)
• Correct answer: D
– The client statement, “I’m seeing green men in my
room,” is documentation of a subjective symptom
reported by the client.

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 Electronic Documentation

• Most health-care facilities have implemented—or

are in the process of implementing—some type of
electronic health records (EHRs) or electronic
documentation system.
• EHRs have been shown to
improve both the quality of
client care and the efficiency
of the health-care system.

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 Electronic Documentation (cont.)

• Eight Core Functions of EHRs:

– Health information and data
– Results management
– Order entry/order management
– Decision support
– Electronic communication and connectivity
– Patient support
– Administrative processes
– Reporting and population health management
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 Advantages and Disadvantages of
Paper and EHR Charting
• Paper • EHRs
– Advantages – Advantages
• Fast • Accessed by many
• Portable • Facilitates research
• People know it and billing
• Reduces errors
– Disadvantages
– Disadvantages
• Can be lost
• Expensive
• Hard to read • Large learning curve
• Hard to store for new users
• Difficult to research • Technical difficulties

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