title: The activities that nurses working in community mental health perform: a geographical comparison.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The primary aim of the present study was to identify the activities that nurses in community mental health services undertake.
  
  
  METHODS
  A dataset containing records of the community and ambulatory interventions involving the nursing staff of 252 mental health facilities was analysed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nurses spend most of their time performing clinical care (78%), followed by clinical organisation (12%), mental health administration (6%) and integration activities (4%). There were minimal differences between treating units located in metropolitan, rural and remote areas in terms of the numbers of consumers receiving care, the time nurses spent with consumers, the types of nursing activities undertaken and the amounts of time spent on each of the four types of nursing activities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that nurses in mental health community settings spend more time in clinical care than nurses in other healthcare settings.
authors.affiliation: Central Queensland University, Institute for Health and Social Science Research, Bruce Highway, Rockhampton, Qld 4702, Australia.
authors.forename: Brenda M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Happell
authors.forename: Cadeyrn J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Gaskin
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hoey
authors.forename: Debra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nizette
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Veach
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D003156:Community Mental Health Services; D016208:Databases, Factual; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000451:nursing*; D009736:Nursing Process / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011365:Professional Practice Location