The erosion of mental health nursing: the implications of the move towards genericism

Abstract

This article casts a critical lens on the current Nursing and Midwifery Council standards for nurse education and their potential impact on mental health nursing in the UK. It discusses how the standards appear to be transitioning mental health nursing towards a generic, task-orientated nursing role and in doing so, are undervaluing the unique contributions of the profession to contemporary mental health care. It also argues that this descent towards genericism not only risks the erosion of the specialist skill set required of mental health nurses by service users, but also aligns mental health nursing care closer with neoliberal policy and with biomedicine to the further detriment of patient care. This article warns that this current period marks a critical time for the profession and that collective, assertive action is needed now to safeguard the profession's distinct presence on the UK's nursing register.

Student Nurse Simulation: Preparedness for the Care of People Living with Dementia – A Review

“…The perceived 'ownership' issue is also problematic, especially regarding the growing concern of mental health nursing education's 'regressive genericism' [45]. The displacement of fundamental skills associated with mental health nursing has shifted towards a more generic nursing role, meaning that mental health nursing students cannot develop skills in dementia care during their pre-registration training [46]. Harvey [47] has recognized that mental health nurses are entering the profession lacking knowledge and skills, specifically in risk assessment and management, because of the dilution of mental health nursing education.…”

Standards of proficiency for registered nurses—To what end? A critical analysis of contemporary mental health nursing within the United Kingdom context

“…The introduction of the Future Nurse Standards has created concerns about the movement towards genericism in pre‐registration nurse education and the erosion of necessary therapeutic skills, such as advocacy, use of self and connectedness that mental health nurses require to flourish (Connell et al, 2022; Haslam, 2023; McKeown, 2023a). To confound matters, during the COVID‐19 pandemic, pre‐registration mental health nursing, like other fields of nursing, shifted towards virtual and simulated methods of practice learning (Haslam, 2021).…”

“…The Australian model has also been found to contribute to high attrition rates of staff working within inpatient settings, as well as skills deficits, and overall poor mental health care (McKeown, 2023a). Even though UK field specialist nurse education gives the impression of a fundamentally different model to that of Australia, existing evidence shows an erosion of specialist mental health nurse education at the undergraduate level (Haslam, 2023; Warrender et al, 2023). Lack of preparedness for mental health nurses within the context of developing critical thinkers and evidenced‐based practitioners might perhaps explain existing defensive practices where staff are managing their cognitive and emotional dissonance by attending to bureaucracy activities (McKeown et al, 2020)—as opposed to addressing the gap of delivering evidence‐based psychological therapies in inpatient mental health settings (Berry, Raphael, Haddock, et al, 2022; Berry, Raphael, Wilson, et al, 2022).…”

Mental health deserves better: Resisting the dilution of specialist pre‐registration mental health nurse education in the United Kingdom

“…Growing dissatisfaction from mental health nurses was also raised (and supported by learning disabilities nurses and children and young people's nurses) in a debate at the Royal College of Nursing Congress (2022). It has been further argued that without collective action from mental health nursing, all will be complicit in the professions demise (Haslam, 2023). A recent survey by the Royal College of Nursing's Mental Health Forum gathered 951 responses from across the UK, with 63% concerned that mental health nursing was being diluted (Jones, 2023).…”