Book Review
Psychiatric & Mental Health Nursing: The Craft of Caring (2nd edn)
Phil Barker
ISBN: 9780340947630;
Michael K. Merritt
Mental Health Consultation-Liaison Service, Lyell McEwin Health Service, Elizabeth Vale, South Australia
This second version provides an improved and up to date account of contemporary psychiatric/mental health nursing. Phil as usual leaves his personal sense and drive on a diverse and truly international account of what psychiatric/mental health nursing is, how it is utilised and the sense of connectedness across the globe. It provides accounts from providers of nursing care and most importantly those who have suffered from mental illness and been consumers, and have recovered in a sense that is important to them and who offer the unique view of what it is like to be 'cared for'.
It begins with the exploration of what psychiatric/mental health nursing is and is not, the blend of art and science into craft of caring. At once it is something that is essentially basic and therefore something that anyone might do, but it is just this ability to make things appear so simple and ordinary, a simplification that becomes so complex and therefore needs to be placed in the context of what is being done.
This edition is broken up into 10 sections exploring the essence and the need of the craft of caring, assessment, structure of care, specific needs, models of practice, organisation of care, standard processes, ethico-legal and moral issues, development of and the future of psychiatric/mental health nursing from and international perspective. With a newer international flavour, there is also a focus on special groups, child & adolescent, women, older persons, refugees and asylum seekers.
There is at once, both clarity and a generation of confusion which challenges you to ask questions and reflect on what it is that you do and could do as a psychiatric/mental health nurse. This large book provides essential information for those wishing to become psychiatric/mental health nurses, allows reflectivity for novices, journeymen and experts alike in the field, and provides allied health colleagues with a clearer understanding of what psychiatric/mental health nursing is and does.
This version has been dedicated to Mike Considine, a Kiwi colleague of international esteem.
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