title: The training and role of nurse-therapists in a general hospital's psychiatric unit.
abstract: The author's discuss their experience using nurses as therapists on a small unit at St. Joseph's Hospital, a general hospital in Hamilton, Ontario. They describe the training of the first nurse-therapists and the three-level training system established to make the program self-sustaining. The nurse-therapist system is now used on several psychiatric units in the hospital. Problems in role relationships and schedules occurred, but the authors, noting the patient-care, economic, and staff benefits, believe that the system would be especially useful in small inpatient units.
mesh_terms: D000553:Ambulatory Care; D003479:Curriculum; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education; D009864:Ontario; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011567:Psychiatric Department, Hospital; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000193:education; D011570:Psychiatry; D011613:Psychotherapy