title: The changing focus of mental health nursing in east London.
abstract: The focus of care for Community Mental Health Nurses (CMHNs) has been moving towards the Severely Mental Ill (SMI) client group over the past ten years. Government guidelines and nursing literature indicate that SMI clients have been neglected in the past and that CMHNs should now prioritize this client group. This paper attempts to define the term SMI and to ascertain whether or not CMHNs in three east-London boroughs are prioritizing this client group. The opinions of these CMHNs are also given in relation to the specific new education and training required to work with this client group. We found that CMHNs were conscious of a distinct shift in focus towards SMI clients, but that they often felt inadequately trained for this change in focus. Recommendations are made for the future training and education of CMHNs to enable them to work with SMI clients more effectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Health Nursing, City University, London, UK.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mathers
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Howard
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000193:education / Q000639:trends*; D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing; D004522:Educational Status; D006292:Health Priorities / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000451:nursing*; D020380:Needs Assessment; D024802:Nurse's Role; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000193:education / Q000639:trends*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards