Leadership in Mental Health Nursing: Integrating the Current Knowledge into Interdisciplinary Practice Strategies
Life is fluid. Change is an inevitable in health care because of multiple factors including development of new technology (Atter, 2008), clinical practice changes (Callaly, & Minas, 2005; Piat, Sabetti, & Bloom, 2010), changing client demographics (Atter, 2008), scarce financial resources (Erwin, 2009), staff shortages, and many others. Mental health nursing in the hospital setting is a prominent area of change because of the shift from the custodial care model prevalent in the early and mid part of the 20th century, to a client-centered recovery-oriented approach that gained popularity in the latter part of the century. This shift required a drastic paradigm shift from caring for to caring with patients and their families. Compounded by the additional workplace stress of de-institutionalization, the result was fewer inpatient mental health beds and shorter lengths of stay (Lloyd, et al, 2009). Unfortunately, change can be a major cause of workplace stress (Olson, 2008; Yu