Richard Gray
Influential mental health nurse receives prestigious award
Emeritus professor Kevin Gournay received the Eileen Skellern Lifetimetime Achievement award
Assessing cardiovascular risk in patients with severe mental illness
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a term mainly used to describe disorders affecting the heart and/or the arteries and veins that are associated with atherosclerosis (the build up of fatty deposits and debris inside blood vessels). CVDs, such as coronary heart disease and peripheral arterial disease, are long-term conditions, but acute events such as myocardial infarction can occur suddenly when a vessel supplying blood to the heart or brain becomes blocked or ruptures. Lifestyle factors and the side effects of antipsychotic medication result in a high incidence of CVD in people with severe mental illness. This article explores how nurses in primary and secondary care can identify CVD risk factors and help patients reduce these risks.
Nurse prescribing in mental health: a person-centred approach
This article outlines how Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, a mental health and learning disability trust, implemented a preceptorship prescribing pathway for mental health nurses. The aim was to support nurses to move from supplementary prescribing to independent prescribing within a person-centred framework.
Community mental health nurses, primary care and the National Service Framework for...
The National Service Framework for Mental Health focuses on the mental health needs of adults up to the age of 65. Susan Plummer and Richard Gray discuss standard two by focusing on depression.
Community mental health nurses, primary care and the National Service Framework for...
Aims and intended learning outcomes The aim of this article is to explore how community mental health nurses (CMHNs) can assist the primary care team, in particular practice nurses, to address and begin to meet standard two of the National Service Framework for Mental Health. The focus of the paper will be on depression, one of the commonest mental disorders presented in primary care. At the end of this article, you should be able to: ■ identify the main points of standard two of the National Service Framework for Mental Health; ■ discuss the prevalence of depression in primary care; ■ identify why many patients with depressive disorders remain undetected; ■ discuss the possible role of community mental health nurses in primary care in relation to practice nurses.
The use of nurses’ holding power in a large psychiatric hospital
The use of nurses’ holding power is a poorly explored aspect of psychiatric inpatient care. This study examined the use of Section 5(4) at the Maudsley Hospital, London, since the introduction of the 1983 Mental Health Act. Between 1983 and 1996 nurses’ holding powers were used on 25 occasions. Seventy two per cent of patients detained under Section 5(4) of the Mental Health Act 1983 were subsequently detained under Section 5(2). Results were broadly consistent with previous studies, although some significant inconsistencies were observed which can probably be attributed to small sample sizes. Further, multicentre research is needed in order that substantive conclusions can be drawn.
Assessing primary nursing in mental health
One of the most important advantages of primary nursing is the consistency and continuity of care which it is said to promote. In the study described here, the authors examine the extent to which this continuity of care is achieved when primary nursing is used and recommend that this should be audited in all clinical areas.