Mental Health Placements

A handy pocket guide to help mental health nursing students prepare for their practice placements. Placements can be daunting to the unprepared. This pocket guide is designed to make mental health placements more enjoyable and less stressful and to help student nurses get the most out of their practice learning experience.

Getting there 1. Preparing for placement 2. Uniform 3. Absence policy 4. The NMC Code 5. Person-centred care 5.1 Least restrictive practice 6. Consent, confidentialityand safeguarding 6.1 Consent 6.2 Confidentiality 6.3 Safeguarding 7. Guidance on using social media Settling there 8. Induction and first day 9. Working with those supervising your practice 10. Common documentation 11. Communicating with colleagues 12. Communicating with patients Being there 13. Personal safety 13.1 De-escalation 13.2 Hand hygiene 13.3 Infection control and sharps policy 13.4 Moving and handling 14. Fundamental skills 14.1 Assessment 14.2 Drug administration 14.3 Drug calculations 14.4 Observations 14.5 Skin assessment 14.6 Urinalysis 15. Basic Life Support 16. Common medical emergencies 16.1 Anaphylactic reaction 16.2 Falls 16.3 Sepsis 16.4 Stroke 16.5 Seizures 17. Common groups of medications 17.1 Antipsychotics 17.2 Antidepressants 17.3 Anxiolytics 18. Pain assessment - pain tools Moving on from there 19. Reflection and action planning 20. Common terminology 21. Quick references 22. Further reading