title: Situation awareness: when nurses decide to admit or not admit a person with mental illness as an involuntary patient.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper will explore the application of situation awareness in nursing to determine its suitability as a framework to study how the decision to admit or not admit a person as an involuntary patient is made.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  The decision by a specially qualified nurse to admit or not admit a person to a mental health facility against their will remains a central component of contemporary mental health legislation. The decision has an impact on a person's autonomy and human rights. Conversely, the decision to admit may facilitate urgent assessment and treatment and ensure the safety of the individual and others. Research highlights that decision-making in this context is challenging due to the multiple information sources and often incomplete information available to the clinician. Situation awareness is a concept used to explain how practitioners identify, use and make meaning of a multitude of factors and elements relevant to their practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  Discussion paper.
  
  
  METHODS
  A search of terms related to situation awareness and mental health nursing was conducted in the period 2000 - present.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Exploring nurses decision-making using a situation awareness framework provides for a more nuanced understanding of nurses knowledge and skill when deciding to admit or not a person as an involuntary patient.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The concept of situation awareness provides a framework to better understand the decision-making process associated with the involuntary admission decision.
authors.affiliation: University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Patterson
authors.affiliation: University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Procter
authors.affiliation: University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Luisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Toffoli
mesh_terms: D001364:Awareness; D003657:Decision Making; D006760:Hospitalization; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing
keywords: decision-making; involuntary admission; involuntary patient; mental health; mental health nurse; psychiatric nurse; situation awareness