Issues in mental health nursing
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Issues Ment Health Nurs · May 2012
ReviewPrescription drug monitoring programs, a response to doctor shopping: purpose, effectiveness, and directions for future research.
Prescription drug abuse is a major worldwide problem and its incidence is on the rise, resulting in a huge societal cost. Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) are electronic databases that collect data on controlled substances so that health care providers can access the data and deter abuse, doctor shopping, and diversion. Currently only a few countries, including the United States and France, have operational PDMPs. ⋯ Studies have shown that PDMPs decrease diversion and doctor shopping. Despite implementation of PDMPs, prescription drug rates for controlled substances and abuse rates have risen. There is an urgent need for understanding and research on this topic so that action can be taken.
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Issues Ment Health Nurs · Jan 2011
Reasons for HIV disclosure and non-disclosure: an exploratory study of rural African American men.
Disclosure of one's HIV status to others is an important decision. There are benefits and risks to be considered. Also decisions must be made about the recipients of the disclosure. ⋯ Audiotaped interviews were conducted with 40 men. The most common reasons for disclosure were to relieve stress, satisfy the need to tell, help others, and to receive support. The most common reasons for non-disclosure were the fear of negative reaction or stigma, the fear of the disclosure recipient telling others, a belief that there was no need to tell, not being ready to tell, and not wanting to burden others with the disclosure.
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Issues Ment Health Nurs · Jan 2011
Turning mental health nursing problems into quality or research projects.
Developing a researchable question or quality improvement project from a broad clinical problem is a key challenge for mental health nurses. In this paper, we provide an overview of some of the steps involved in proceeding from an initial ?problem? within a clinical setting to determining a research question with clear conceptual components that leads to appropriate methods to explore the topic or answer the question. The focus of the proposed quality or research study must be clear to clinicians and potential participants and meet professional responsibilities. Conducting high quality research and quality initiatives will likely improve care and outcomes for mental health consumers as well as providing a reliable evidence-based foundation for further improvements.