Nursing education and clinical practice on child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient services: survey results.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the educational preparation of staff nurses working on child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient services.


METHODS
A 40-item questionnaire was sent to 169 staff nurses in nine institutions. One hundred seventeen questionnaires (69.2%) were suitable for analyses.


RESULTS
Respondents ranged in age from 22 to 52 years (mean = 34.7, +/- 7.43 years) and 87.2% (n = 102) were women. Seventy-one percent (n = 83) of the respondents agreed that basic nursing education inadequately prepared them for work on child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient services. Deficiencies were cited in psychopharmacology, child psychiatric diagnosis, child psychopathology, and milieu treatment. There were few differences across educational type.


CONCLUSIONS
Recent advances in psychiatric epidemiology, psychopharmacology, and neuroscience merit greater attention in undergraduate nursing education. Child psychiatric institutions and professional nursing organizations have a role to play in continuing education.
Scahill
L
L
Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT, USA.
Laroche
E
E
Bondi
C
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000296:Adolescent Psychiatry / Q000193:education*; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002665:Child Psychiatry / Q000193:education*; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education*; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000193:education*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States