title: The Phil Hearne course: an evaluation of a multidisciplinary mental health education programme for clinical practitioners.
abstract: A description and evaluation of the pilot of a 30-week multidisciplinary mental health education programme (The Phil Hearne Course) is presented. The course was based upon the expressed service needs of an NHS Trust and upon the needs of users consulted during the developmental phase of the project. The course was designed to provide core skills, relating to effective assessment, communication, intervention and networking. These skills were thought to be applicable to all mental health disciplines. The course was evaluated positively by students and staff and was found to be effective in improving practice by providing a range of core skills for mental health workers. It was also determined that students tended to over-estimate their skills in core areas, particularly care planning and record-keeping. It is intended to develop the course into a distance learning, skills-based package.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Newcastle, Leases Wing, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 4LP, UK.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Parsons
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Barker
mesh_terms: D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education*; D010348:Patient Care Team; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000193:education*; D006113:United Kingdom