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Community mental health nurses, caseloads, and practices: a literature review

journal contribution
posted on 2012-04-01, 00:00 authored by B Happell, W Hoey, Cadeyrn GaskinCadeyrn Gaskin
Deinstitutionalization, and more recently, earlier discharges from psychiatric inpatient units, have created and intensified the need for case management in community mental health. Nurses have been at the forefront of providing this case management. This literature review provides a synthesis of research and policy on the contribution of mental health nurses to community case management. The focus of this review is on the proportion of case management that mental health nurses undertake, the caseloads of case managers, and the interventions that mental health nurses most frequently perform in the community. The professional compositions of mental health case management workforces have been associated with economic imperatives, professional priorities, and the choice of case management models. The influence of mental health nurses in the case management workforce is particularly strong in the U.K. and Australia, but less so in the U.S.A. where social workers and people without mental health qualifications perform similar roles. Although heavy caseloads seem to be common among case managers, the research in this area is quite weak. The interventions that mental health nurses perform most often include case management (e.g., coordinating care), counselling, and medication management. Caring for the physical health of consumers might often be overlooked.

History

Journal

International journal of mental health nursing

Volume

21

Issue

2

Pagination

131 - 137

Publisher

Wiley

Location

London, Eng.

eISSN

1447-0349

Language

eng

Publication classification

C Journal article; C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2011, The Authors