Does the way we treat mental health nursing students prepare them for the realities of a nursing career?
Join our next Journal Club to join the debate
Dan Warrender, mental health nurse and university lecturer, doesn’t think so. In his editorial “Mental health nursing and the theory-practice gap: Civil war and intellectual self-injury”, Dan explains that with his move to lecturing, he wanted to make the most significant difference he could to future mental health nurses. In reality, however, he has been left disillusioned with the system and the state of nurse education. While clinical placements make up 50 percent of a nurse’s formal learning, Dan describes how these can sometimes be damaging and resemble “cannibalism”, with new ideas often dismissed as idealistic without a second thought.
There is hope, though!
Empathy and understanding can be fostered if academics reach into nursing practice rather than existing as a separate entity focussed solely on theory. From this, there is an opportunity to improve the attitudes held by some nurses who feel disillusioned or burnt out and start resolving the crisis in nurse recruitment and training.
To hear more about the theory-practice gap in mental health nursing, join Dan on our Journal Club on 4th January, 2:00-2:30pm. There will be time after the editorial is presented for a Q&A session.
Email mhnru@gmmh.nhs.uk for a Microsoft Teams invite. All welcome!
