Caring for the Entire Unit: Psychiatric Nurses' Use of Awareness

Psychiatric nurses have a level of responsibility for everyone residing on the unit, which contributes to the need to nurse the population on the unit as a whole. Because the knowledge base regarding psychiatric nursing interventions in acute care settings is limited, this hermeneutic phenomenological study explored psychiatric nurses' experiences in providing nursing interventions to adult clients in acute care settings. Six expert psychiatric nurses were recruited through purposive, snowball sampling and were interviewed individually to gain a rich understanding of the psychiatric nursing interventions they provided to adult clients in acute care mental health settings. Analysis of the data revealed themes of awareness and person-centered care. This article focuses on the theme of Awareness, with subthemes of self-awareness, awareness of the client, and situational awareness. Situational awareness in psychiatric nursing has remained generally unexplored, and this research adds to the current knowledge base. Implications for practice, research, and education are discussed. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 57(9), 17-23.].