Mental health nursing: Difference between revisions

Along with other nurses, psychiatric mental health nurses will intervene in areas of physical need to ensure that people have good levels of personal hygiene, nutrition, sleep, etc., as well as tending to any concomitant physical ailments. In mental health patients, obesity is not rare because some medications can have a side effect of gaining weight which can cause the patient to have low confidence and lead to other health issues.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|title=Improving the physical health of people with mental health problems|last=Glasper|first=Alan|date=2016|journal=British Journal of Nursing |volume=25|issue=12|pages=696–7|doi=10.12968/bjon.2016.25.12.696|pmid=27345074|url=https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/399398/1/Improving%2520the%2520physical%2520health%2520of%2520people%2520with%2520mental%2520health%2520problems.docx}}</ref> To fix this problem, mental health nurses are urged to encourage patients to get more exercise to enhance their physical health, along with their mental health by improving the patients confidence and lowering stress levels, improving their mental health which has been a focus for mental health nurses because many patients do not get enough exercise.<ref name=":1" /> Nurses may also need to help the patients with alcohol or drug abuse because mental health patients are at a higher risk for this behavior.<ref name=":1" /> Mental health nurses need to be able to communicate to patients about this. The alcohol and drug abuse could cause the patient to also have a higher risk of sexually transmitted diseases because [[alcohol (drug)|alcohol]] and drugs can lead to more sexual behavior.<ref name=":1" />