title: 'Because That's the Way It's Always Been Done': Reviewing the Nurse-Initiated Rules in a Mental Health Unit as a Step Toward Trauma-Informed Care.
abstract: Acknowledgement of the effects of trauma in the lives of the mental health service user population is increasingly being recognised as an imperative for Mental Health services. 'Trauma-informed care' provides values to guide practice. Mental Health nurses are well placed to commence integrating trauma-informed care into everyday practice. This paper describes the process of reviewing the nurse-led rules in an acute inpatient mental health unit as one step toward providing a trauma-informed environment. Findings from questionnaires are used to highlight the applicability of the process to the underlying values of trauma-informed care. Consistency and transparency of rules is demonstrated as a nursing-led step toward establishing emotional safety and creating a trauma-informed environment.
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Research, Sydney Local Health District, Concord Centre for Mental Health, Concord, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Isobel
mesh_terms: D006757:Hospital Units; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008605:Mental Health Services; D024802:Nurse's Role; D057184:Practice Patterns, Nurses'; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology*