Educational Media Reviews Online

Nurses have always tried to provide for the mental health needs of patients/clients. However, the role of the psychiatric/mental health nurse has evolved significantly from the turn of the century state-operated mental hospitals and asylums to the current role of a specialized clinician. This video provides insight into the contemporary roles of the psychiatric nurse, and functions well as a tool to recruit students and/or current practitioners into this specialty area. To provide a feel for the variety of roles within this specialty, nurses from five broad practice areas are interviewed and shown in their respective practice settings. The five broad roles/practice areas depicted are: inpatient psychiatric care, psychiatric home care, community mental health, private practice, and primary care psychiatric nursing. All the nurses interviewed succeed at communicating the importance of their role and the impact that they have on people's live. Despite the narrow topical focus, the video is recommended as a useful addition to any health related careers collections.