Medical dramas are sometimes the worst offenders. Benny Marrett, MSN, RN, president-elect of the Emergency Nurses Association and a clinical nurse specialist with Emergency Care Consultants of the Carolinas in Rock Hill, S.C., said she has seen medical dramas showing health professionals raising their voices to patients or shining bright lights on them, showing a lack of understanding for the difficulties and particular sensitivities faced by patients with mental illnesses. This can lead them to approach patients with the same stereotypes often portrayed on television. That s where training comes in. There needs to be adequate training to address these problems.
Experience can also solve the problem.
Jean Proehl, MN, RN, president of the Emergency Nurses Association, said ER nurses who often treat patients having their first bout with a mental illness are most focused on keeping patients who present symptoms of mental illness from harming themselves and others. They also concentrate on looking out for possible conditions that might mimic the symptoms of psychiatric ailments, such as hypoglycemia and metabolic imbalances, Proehl said. They leave your heartstrings dangling. Then one day, the bed sheets are neatly straightened and they re gone.