May 12 is commemorated as Nurses' Day. May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, who is considered the founder of modern nursing, has been celebrated as "Nurses Day" in our country since 1964 and May 12-18, which includes today, is celebrated as "Nursing Week".
Dilek Özdemir, Director of Nursing Services at Üsküdar University NPISTANBUL Hospital, said that the nursing profession is one of the most important elements of health services.
Psychiatric nursing is a very new field in our country
Stating that psychiatric nursing is a very new field in our country as a branch, Dilek Özdemir said that their field of work abroad is very wide.
Stating that psychiatric nurses work in a wide range of areas such as psychiatric hospitals, community mental health centers, general hospitals, day hospitals, outpatient units, prisons and schools to improve health and provide treatment and rehabilitation services in case of illness, Özdemir said:
"Progress in psychiatric nursing practices in Turkey has been slower compared to developed countries. Within the scope of the duties, authorities and responsibilities of nurses according to the units/services/units/areas of work in Turkey on April 19, 2011, the duties, authorities and responsibilities of Psychiatry Clinical Nurse, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Nurse, Consultation Liaison Psychiatry Nurse and Alcohol and Drug Addiction Center Nurse were included in Mental Health and Diseases Nursing. The duties, powers and responsibilities of Community Mental Health Center Nurses were included in Public Health Nursing and the duties, powers and responsibilities of other specialist nurses in the field of psychiatric nursing were not included in the regulation."
The most difficult part of psychiatric nursing; buying emotion
Stating that the most difficult part of psychiatric nursing is to buy emotion, Dilek Özdemir said, "Buying emotion is the most difficult part of this job. This is actually the most difficult part of nursing and the health sector. It is very difficult not to internalize that emotion. You are human and these are very human emotions, after all, you feel sad too. This is the most difficult part."
Özdemir said, "It is necessary for people who want to do Psychiatric Nursing to have a bachelor's degree, a master's degree in psychiatric nursing or a doctorate to work in this field." Özdemir said, "The American Nurses Association has a special definition for this; As an art, it must know and apply the purposeful use of the self. In addition, a psychiatric nurse should be able to carry out both psychosocial and neurobiological theories, research findings and various other roles of nursing together as science."
They should contribute to world nursing
Özdemir, who also gave advice to young people and nurse candidates who want to work in this field in the future, said
"If they want to work in a psychiatric hospital or clinic and/or if they want to serve in the field of community mental health, social mental health, if they want to help the lives of clients, patients and their families find meaning again, I recommend them to do Psychiatric Nursing. They should adopt a multidisciplinary treatment approach under the leadership of science, contribute to world nursing with a team that believes in scientific freedom, and be the defender of the nursing image and profession. Within this unity, they should strive to improve the health of individuals and societies and always take the profession one step forward. They should advocate for nurses and their profession at all levels, make efforts to advance the nursing profession and influence health, social, economic and educational policies. As Travelbe, one of the nurse philosophers, said, "A person is valuable not because she is a nurse, but because every nurse is a person."