A study was carried out to identify the training needs of psychiatric nursing staff working in acute wards. Which type of learning, which training needs and how want the training to be delivered. Qualification and accreditation were also examined. Questionnaires were given to 70 nurses working in the 5 acute wards of Psychiatric Hospital of Thessaloniki, Greece. The key findings were that most participants wanted to be trained in practical nursing skills in every day practice. The most preferable training thematic was: a) Management of violent and aggressive behavior, b) Risk assessment, c) The suicidal patient, d) Clinical assessment skills, e) The patient with psychosis and f) Communication skills. Accreditation was very important and they wanted to gain professional qualification. The empirical study highlighted the need for further training, in the frames of Continuing Education. The findings could be of great interest for The National Center of Public Administration, as useful informative material, according to the real training needs of the specific group.
Allen, M. (2002). Emergency Psychiatry. Washington: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.
Brennan, M. (2006). An evaluation of perceived education and training needs of staff nurses and care officers. Journal of Forensic Nursing, 2, 175–183.
Clarke, S. (2004). Acute Inpatient Mental Health Care: Education, Training & Continuing Professional Development for All. England/Sainsbury: National Institute for Mental Health in England.
Clinton, C., Pereira, S., & Mullins, B. (2001). Training needs of psychiatric intensive care staff. Nursing Standard, 15(34), 33-36.
Dickerson, P. (2000). A CQI Approach to evaluating Continuing Education: Processes and Outcomes. Journal for Nurses in Staff Development, 16(1), 34-40.
Doyle, M., Earnshaw, P., & Galloway, A. (2003). Developing, delivering and evaluating interprofessional clinical risk training in mental health services. Psychiatric Bulletin, 27, 73-76.
Eaton, S., & Ghannon, M. (2000). Prediction of violence on a psychiatric intensive care unit. Medicine Science and the Law, 40(7), 143-146.
Gournay, K. (2005). The changing face of psychiatric nursing. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 11, 6-11.
Jones, J., & Lowe, T. (2003). The education and training needs of qualified mental health nurses working in acute adult mental health services. Nurse Education Today, 23, 610-619.
Mason, T., Coyle, D., & Lovell, A. (2008). Forensic psychiatric nursing: skills and competencies: II clinical aspects. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 15, 131-139.
Pena, F., & Alonso Castillo, M. (2006). Factors influencing Nursing Staff Members’ Participation in Continuing Education. Revista Latino-American Enfermagem, 14(3), 309-315.
Rogers, A. (1999). Teaching Adults. Open University Press, Athens;.
Roussou, C. (1993). Nursing–historical retrospection. Nursing, 10, 189-194.
Copyright: © 2011 The Author(s)
Published by Knowledge Words Publications (www.kwpublications.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
