Nurse Perceptions of Pediatric Mental Health Emergency Care: A Qualitative Study

The key goal of the mental health nurse practicing in emergency mental health care services is ensuring that their patients have access to best practice mental health care. The aim of this study was to examine mental health nurses’ perceptions of their role in and preparation for providing mental health care services for pediatric emergency department patients. A qualitative constructivist method was employed. Inductive data were gathered using a focus group discussion model employing open-ended questions as probes. The participants were nine experienced practicing mental health nurses. Discussion was facilitated through detailed probing of the nurses’ experiences in providing care for clients in emergency departments. Four principal themes emerged from the data about mental health nurses’ experiences during the provision of emergency care: (i) barriers to adequate care provision; (ii) problems among populations; (iii) pediatric special needs; and (iv) the general need for improvements to mental health care. Each participant in this study asserted that they endorse the introduction of care by specialized mental health nurses in emergency care departments to better serve this population in Saudi Arabia. Inclusion and acceptance of psychiatric mental health nurses as full members of the multidisciplinary emergency department team, improved education and training opportunities, standards-based evaluation by collegial supervisors, availability of tools for assessment, and recognition of the role of pediatric psychiatric mental health nurses in emergency department care were goals expressed by the focus group members.