Mental Health Care in Practice (11850.1)

This second mental health unit provides opportunities for students to further develop their mental health nursing skills and knowledge by engaging with the lived experience of people with mental health challenges. Students will demonstrate therapeutic communication with cultural safety, and further develop professional interactions with people with mental health challenges and substance abuse issues, their families, and the interprofessional team. Students will undertake comprehensive mental health assessment for people experiencing a range of complex mental health and substance abuse issues, and develop person-centred, recovery-focused, trauma-informed care plans that apply contemporary evidence. Students will demonstrate sound knowledge of psychopharmacology, polypharmacy and pharmacotherapeutics, including caring for people across the lifespan taking psychotropic preparations.
Mental health issues affect a significant proportion of the Australian population at all life stages, hence mental health nursing skills are critical for all nurses to meet the standards for practice. As students transition to practice, it is essential to reflect on their own perspectives on mental health and mental health care and identify areas for personal and professional development. The scope of mental health nursing to support individual and community wellness applying multimodal approaches and digital health technologies to prevent, treat and recover is explored.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate therapeutic relationship skills and cultural safety in all aspects of mental health and substance abuse practice;
2. Co-create opportunities for preventative mental healthcare strategies including nurse led education and initiatives to support wellbeing;
3. Examine evidence based contemporary psychosocial, behavioural and pharmacological interventions in mental health and substance abuse contexts;
4. Collaborate with people and families to enable a strengths-based and trauma-informed approach to assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of mental health nursing care;
5. Prioritise care needs for people experiencing mental health challenges utilising health assessment data and cues; identify evidence of mental health deterioration and escalate care as appropriate; and
6. Reflect on personal capabilities and identify areas for development to engage holistically with people experiencing mental health challenges across the lifespan and care contexts.

Graduate attributes

1. UC graduates are professional - communicate effectively
1. UC graduates are professional - display initiative and drive, and use their organisation skills to plan and manage their workload
1. UC graduates are professional - employ up-to-date and relevant knowledge and skills
1. UC graduates are professional - use creativity, critical thinking, analysis and research skills to solve theoretical and real-world problems
1. UC graduates are professional - work collaboratively as part of a team, negotiate, and resolve conflict
2. UC graduates are global citizens - communicate effectively in diverse cultural and social settings
2. UC graduates are global citizens - make creative use of technology in their learning and professional lives
2. UC graduates are global citizens - think globally about issues in their profession
2. UC graduates are global citizens - understand issues in their profession from the perspective of other cultures
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - reflect on their own practice, updating and adapting their knowledge and skills for continual professional and academic development
4. UC graduates are able to demonstrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being and doing - communicate and engage with Indigenous Australians in ethical and culturally respectful ways

Prerequisites

10197 Health Across the Lifespan: Mental Health

Corequisites

None.

Incompatible units

None.

Equivalent units

None.

Assumed knowledge

None.