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The Emergency Nurses Association is celebrating Emergency Nurses Week (EN Week) Oct. 9-15, 2022. It’s prominent on social media platforms with #ENWeek, relaying a welcomed outpouring of appreciation and admiration for these literal life-saving heroes.
Inclusion of Psychiatric Professionals’ Accomplishments During Emergency Nurses Week
Psychiatric cases make up 1 in 8 local hospital emergency room (ER) visits. The most cited mental health cases include mood disorders (43%), anxiety disorders (26%), and substance disorders (24%). Most of these conditions are related to suicidal ideation.
These statistics reveal the need for focus on the specialized field of psychiatric emergency room nursing, and the role they perform in the realm of behavioral health.
The Emergency Department (ED) is often the first point of contact for patients with mental health issues, particularly during late night/early morning hours. This reality is based on availability, in terms of the outside-of-office time of these encounters, the ongoing increases in demand for care, and the shortage of healthcare professionals and the services available.
Nurses working in psychiatric emergency services, treating patients in emergency rooms, are often for life- cautionary situations. These scenarios include conditions where a person is threatening immediate harm to themselves or others, is severely disoriented or out of touch with reality, or is emotionally and physically out of control.
ERs are staffed by trained psychiatric professionals, including physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers, techs, and security personnel. In this urgent environment, the goal isn’t to diagnose the mental condition. In this situation, the goal is to assess the risk of suicide, and danger to oneself or to others. As follow-up treatment, either in inpatient or outpatient settings, those suffering symptoms receive behavioral health services encompassing the root causes of their conditions. Through these encounters, mental health practitioners provide comprehensive assessment and treatment.
8 Ways to Celebrate Emergency Nurses Week for Psychiatric Specialists
Emergency Nurses Week is a time to show appreciation to psychiatric specialists who supply the first line of treatment in crucial situations. Here are a few ways to express gratitude:
- Decorate the emergency department with the EN Week posters, along with balloons and another joyous décor. Have fun with it!
- Cater pre- or post-shift bakery items from a local favorite. Even better – provide them with a treat-a-day variety assortment throughout the week
- Recognize ER nurses who have completed a degree or earned their certification in the past year through a social event. Also recognize those with tenure, who’s mentored many.
- Ask the facility’s CEO or CNO to write personal thank-you notes to the ED psychiatric specialists. The gesture will mean much to them.
- Help those who help others – pick up an ER nurse’s groceries for them; they’ll appreciate skipping that trip after a shift.
- Offer to watch their child on a day when their regular resource isn’t available.
- Promote these professionals through media; both the organization’s social platforms and by contacting the local newspaper’s features editor with a personal staffer story of EN Week.
- Spread the word to the next generation of psychiatric nurses. Connect with local high schools and colleges to engage professional nursing students and those who are searching for a
career path to pursue. Invite staff to tell their story of why they joined the profession, and why they’re glad they did. Sharing the real-life realities of the job from their vantage is influential – people recognize passion for one’s profession.
Make this week a time of recognition and celebration. ‘Thank you' is never said too much. ED psychiatric nurses are often the catalyst for people to repair their lives. What starts with an ER encounter can lead to lasting healing.
Contact InSync Healthcare Solutions to help with automating patients’ behavioral health records, scheduling, and billing workflow management, from the ER to their outpatient care.
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