course content "mental health nursing"

[xSebastianx]

Hi there, my name is Sebastian, I am Social Worker from Dortmund, Germany. I got some questions regarding the content of mental health nursing courses.

maybe it would be helpful to tell you folks a bit about my self first: Right now, I am working on an psychiatric acute care ward for child and adolescent and I really enjoy my work. But in Germany, we have no role like the mental health nurse, so general nurses are working alongside social workers to enshure that we meet all our patients needs.

When I look at my nursing colleagues, I feel very sorry that I have no "nursing" knowlede(for instance, catheterisation, wound dressing, stuff like that). I think its of vital importance for our work.

I am currently thinking about moving to the Uk and trying to get into a accelerated course in mental health nursing, but i still have a few questions.

For instance, where lies the focus of these courses? Are they stronger on the "nursing" or on the "therapeutic/pedagogic" side?

Is there a list of nursing key qualifications that you have after you graduate?

Any other advice is also welcome!

cheers

Sebastian

[XB9S, BSN, MSN, EdD, RN, APN]

Sebastian all nursing courses in the UK start with a common foundation program which is nursing based, then it splits into the various speciality branch. I have no experience of the Mental Health componant but I would assume as with the other branches it is focused on mental health nursing.