Regarding the Dec. 17 article “Mental Health First Aid Course teaches skills to assist people who need help” (www.Nurse.com/Article/Mental-Health-First-Aid): I will never forget my psych rotation in 1993.
I was terrified of walking through locked doors, having patients in my personal space and interacting with patients while the regular staff stayed behind the glass area of the nursing station. I didn’t want to practice in that unpredictable, unsafe environment.
If the stats of people who will experience a mental health disorder of some type at 1:4 are correct, then schools need to do a better job of preparing nurses to understand this field better now.
— Anne Overby, RN, Olympia, Wash.
I was terrified of walking through locked doors, having patients in my personal space and interacting with patients while the regular staff stayed behind the glass area of the nursing station. I didn’t want to practice in that unpredictable, unsafe environment.
If the stats of people who will experience a mental health disorder of some type at 1:4 are correct, then schools need to do a better job of preparing nurses to understand this field better now.
— Anne Overby, RN, Olympia, Wash.
