Acute mental

'This book is a valuable addition to the growing literature on acute care and should provide great encouragement to the frontline staff in this area... By bringing together this range of excellent material the editors have also been able to produce a book which addresses the most thorny problems which face most frontline staff for much of their working day' - From the Foreword by Professor Kevin Gournay, CBE Health Services Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry

'Inpatient mental health care has had a rough ride in recent years. Its shortcomings have been highlighted, while policy emphasis and cash have been directed to community services. This very welcome book reminds us that inpatient care and treatment are an essential element in the spectrum of mental health services and shows how they can be re-thought and fine-tuned in ethos, practice and training, for the benefit of service-users, staff and the wider community. It deserves a wide readership' - John Bowis MEP (former Health Minister for Mental Health)

'By concentrating on describing the skills of practitioners the editors and authors of Acute Mental Health Nursing have developed a unique resource for both students and practitioners of acute inpatient care. Their no nonsense evidence- based approach will be an invaluable aid to developing practical responses to this important though challenging area of mental health practice' - Richard Bradshaw, Director of Nursing Prison Health Department of Health England formerly Professional Office Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Nursing UKCC

'Comprehensively tackles a range of key issues that the student or advanced practitioner in acute mental health nursing will face... I recommend this book, which will provide a useful resource for anyone interested in this important area of nursing' - Journal of Community Nursing

Recent mental health policy has focused on developing community-based services, while the reality remains that patients experiencing acute episodes of illness are mainly cared for in hospital. Acute Mental Health Nursing has been developed as a guide to the core knowledge and skills required for working in inpatient settings.

Bringing together a vastly experienced and multi-professional team of contributors, the book covers core areas of practice including:

· assessment

· risk management

· case management and integrated care pathways

· observation

· cognitive behavioural therapy

· psycho-social interventions

· medication management

· user involvement

· social inclusion

· measurement of health and social functioning.

Drawing on the latest developments in policy and planning, Acute Mental Health Nursing addresses issues which are specific to working in inpatient settings. It has been designed for use in training and is also an excellent source of reference for use in practice.

Divided into three parts the book discusses current practice in the UK, then describes some of the clinical approaches and interventions used in home treatment and goes on to explore the impact of interagency and interprofessional issues on the day to day working of home treatment services. Neil Brimblecombe has drawn together the work of a wide range of mental health professionals including nurses, social workers and psychiatrists to provide those who work in this progressive field an authoritative and comprehensive text which they will find invaluable as they develop their practice and provision of home treatments.

In the U.S., when a patient is in need of intensive psychiatric care, the first step is hospitalization. However, elsewhere in the world, psychiatric home treatment is proposed as an alternative. Model programs in Canada and the United Kingdom are publicly administered by community health agencies or teaching hospitals. Psychiatric Home Treatment provides a review of the literature on home care and describes working programs around the world. This timely volume reviews treatment plans for different disorders with case illustrations, explains the administration of a PHC program and offers guidelines to case workers. It will be of interest to mental health professionals and policy makers working on the issue of patient hospitalization.