Organization of mental health care

Psychiatric mental health nurses work in a variety of hospital and community settings.

* People generally require an admission to hospital, voluntarily or involuntarily if they are experiencing a crisis that means they are dangerous to themselves or others in some immediate way. However, people may gain admission for a concentrated period of therapy or for respite. Despite changes in mental health policy in many countries that have closed psychiatric hospitals, many nurses continue work in hospitals though patient length of stay has decreased significantly.

* Community nurses in mental health work with people in their own homes (case management) and will often emphasize work on mental health promotion. Psychiatric mental health nurses also work in rehabilitation settings where people are recovering from a crisis episode and the where the aim is social inclusion and a return to living independently in society.

* Psychiatric mental health nurses also work in forensic psychiatry with people who are detained as they have committed a crime or are particularly dangerous.

* People in the older age group who are more prone to dementia tend to be cared for in separate places than younger adults and there are also specialist services for the care of adolescents with mental health problems. Occasionally there have been efforts to integrate psychiatric units across the age spectrum.