A descriptive survey to identify the perceived skills and community skill requirements of mental health staff

Abstract

Throughout the 1990s mental health care has shifted from a hospital to a community-based service. Government policy indicates that staff require further education as a result of the shift to community care. However, none of the United Kingdom policy documents or mental health literature prescribes what education is required. Consequently this multidisciplinary study aimed to identify what skills, if any, were required by hospital-based staff to move to a community-based working environment. Study findings suggest advantages in perceiving skills as overlapping and interconnecting. Five common core skills and skill differences between professional groups are identified. It is argued that core skills are central and common to all groups and specialist skills are those that distinguish professional groups one from another and different grades of staff within professional groups. While problems of multidisciplinary education are considered, nevertheless a case is made for educating staff in core skills within a multidisciplinary environment which may be beneficial in achieving community care goals.

The inherent components of the orthopaedic nursing role: An exploratory study

“…They stated that patient outcomes might be negatively affected if cared for by nurses who were not knowledgeable and skilled in their specialty. While core skills are central and common, specialist skills are those that distinguish professional groups one from another and different grades of staff within professional groups (Bugge et al, 1999).…”

The Effect of an Emotional Intelligence Intervention on Reducing Stress and Improving Communication Skills of Nursing Students

“…In psychiatric nursing context, special attention has been paid to promote the knowledge, skills and attitude of nurses in communication skills with patients, especially mental patients (Haber et al, 1999;Fakhoury and Wright, 2000), and specific chapters have been allocated to teaching the theories and principles of communication in all psychiatric nursing books (Bugge et al, 1999). However, studies have shown that many nurses avoid close contact and emotional interaction with their mental patients and spend little time communicating with them.…”

What is a comprehensive mental health nursing assessment? A review of the literature

“…In a survey of the skills required to work in mental health in the UK, Bugge et al . (1999) found that community mental health nurses identified assessment as one of the top five core skills.…”