Student Mental Health Nurse Review

Me and the team provided short term intensive treatment to individuals with a range of mental health conditions. The day-to-day responsibilities involved going on home visits and talking to the individuals about things such as how they were coping, and how we could support them. We also took medication is and carried out assessments to evaluate if an individual‘s mental state was improving or not. In some cases the home treatment team wasn’t able to provide enough support so the individuals have to be admitted into hospital; these are individuals who are very acutely unwell and will not cooperative with the team. But in most cases and the individuals made improvements and were able to be discharged to a community team. The difference between the home treatment team and the community team is that the treatment team provides more intensive support so we often carried out visits two or three times a day for the same individual. Whereas a community team has a larger caseload so may only see the individual once a week maybe even less.

I was able to develop upon my communication and team working skills as these were very important because I was working within a team. I was also able to build on my communication skills with the service users. I developed my knowledge of different medications and treatments as I would often hear the different names of medications so I took it onto myself to research them, their uses and the doses so that I could be better prepared.

Yes and no. Being a first-year student there are several things but I just couldn’t do but I was given lots of opportunities and responsibilities regarding writing notes. I wrote up several patients notes over my placement, this included writing up a mental health examination assessment. I was also able to read through the patient’s notes in the caseload so that I was able to get a better understanding as to the individual‘s mental state before I went to visit.

I was given lots of support from the team, these are difficult times at the moment and Covid 19 affected placement but the team were very organised and managed to make it work and give me a good experience. The University also gave us guidance and support while we were on placement should we have any concerns or worries, I personally did not need to access any of the support or guidance because I felt I was getting enough support from my placement

The atmosphere was very positive, the entire team worked very well together and this improved my experience and also helped to ensure that things ran smoothly. The team manager was very nice and organised and very involved in the team. This made it easier for everybody to come together and do what they needed to do. Overall there is a strong work culture and the atmosphere in the office was very welcoming and positive. Working for the NHS does generally have a good atmosphere.

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement. I was able to get involved and do many different things. I was also able to develop skills that will help me on future placements and when I have finished my university degree and qualified. I enjoyed the variety. The range of patients that we saw was huge and they all had different mental health conditions of varying severity. The only thing that I didn’t really enjoy was the travelling. Being a community team meant we had to travel between patients homes and because the area that the team cover was quite large sometimes it was quite a lot of travelling in a day.

Yes

Look into the role. And make sure it’s what you expected. Find the area that you want to working and look at the qualifications and experience you may need. Depending on the role you may need a university degree or you may be able to get an apprenticeship. But either way when applying for a job with the NHS make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into. There is a lot of responsibility and working for the NHS requires a lot of compassion and a caring nature.