Building The Future

Registered Psychiatric Nurses (RPNs) participate as members of interdisciplinary health care teams in providing holistic care to client groups in the context of mental and developmental health services. Psychiatric Nursing promotes the restoration of client health and wellness through health promotion initiatives that are evidence based. RPNs practice at all levels of prevention, including primary, secondary, and tertiary health care services across the life span.

RPNs practice psychiatric nursing in a variety of health care contexts viewing clients as individuals, groups, aggregates, families and communities. These include mental health centres, emergency psychiatric services (emergency rooms and mobile crisis), psychiatric assessment and treatment units of general hospitals, palliative and hospice care facilities, addiction treatment facilities, intermediate and long term care facilities, correctional services, forensic services (in-patient and community-based care), community mental health services (as mental health therapists and assertive case managers), independent practice and within First Nations communities.

Key issues facing Registered Psychiatric Nurses include:

Under-utilization of psychiatric nursing knowledge and skills (competency) in some clinical practice environments
Lack of effective, long-term strategy for Canadian nursing
Lack of effective, long-term strategy for mental health services
Access to graduate education programs in psychiatric nursing