With the growth of community support programs the role of the state psychiatric hospital has changed. Reduced funding levels have resulted in overcrowding, inadequate staffing and ineffective programming. In order to improve the quality of care and introduce more psychiatric rehabilitation-oriented activities into hospital programming, a large state hospital and a state health sciences university have entered into a time-limited collaborative partnership. This paper describes that partnership and its attempt to improve staff competencies, enhance service delivery and integrate a more rehabilitation-oriented philosophy of care into the hospital through undergraduate education, in-service training, program development, staff mentoring and organizational change activities.
Although the aging inpatient population in state psychiatric hospitals is growing significantly, there are few examples of available training to improve staff knowledge and practice. The current article describes a 10-week training series developed through a university and psychiatric hospital collaboration. Training was attended by 135 direct care nursing and rehabilitation staff and focused on improving aging awareness, problem solving, using person-centered therapeutic techniques, and engaging older adults. Staff reported improvements in therapeutic techniques, knowledge, concrete strategies for providing care, and stress management skills. Specialized training to improve understanding of aging processes and communication with older adults may also improve inpatient staff knowledge and skills. As the aging inpatient population in state psychiatric hospitals continues to grow, future work should develop manualized training initiatives to address communication needs of older adults and intervention strategies that can be used by mental health nursing staff when working with this population. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 56(4), 12-16.].
Individuals with serious mental illness transitioning from state psychiatric hospitals to community living need specialized skills to enter community housing programs. There are few examples of best practice hospital group programs to improve community living skills. To address this gap, the authors developed a community skills training and discharge readiness program,
Tools for Moving On
(TFMO), adapted from materials from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Permanent Supportive Housing: Tools for Tenants
toolkit. The new program uses facilitator and participant handouts, implementation recommendations, and covers four topics, including housing choices, housing preferences, tenancy skills, and support needs. Adapting existing evidence-based practices for individuals in state psychiatric hospitals may aid in successful discharge and community living and support nurses in their efforts for discharge. [
Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 57
(8), 23–29.]
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