Authors

  1. Wright, Ariel MSN, MS, RN
  2. Paredes, Amy MSN, RN CMSRN
  3. Stuckey, Lanette MSN, RN, CNE, CMSRN

Article Content

Safety in mental/behavioral health is critical, and as nurse educators, it is essential that students protect patients, develop nursing interventions, and carry out practices that use clinical judgment. In a prelicensure nursing program, an assignment aligned with Quality and Safety Education for Nurses and the American Psychiatric Nurses Association Essential Competencies was created for the mental/behavioral health course. In this assignment, students use the skills laboratory to find a prepared inpatient mental/behavioral health environmental scenario. The student silently reviews the patient environment by scanning the room that was set up in the laboratory to identify safety risks for the patient and the health care team within the scenario. The student then documents the safety risks, causes, and prioritization of risks in order of highest to lowest in a provided medical record. Additionally, students explain if the safety risk should be delegated and how the safety risk should be handled to eliminate the risk of harm to the patient and nurse. After the scenario is completed, the student and educator go through the mental/behavioral health safety risks along with a rich discussion and debriefing session that encourages clinical judgment to discuss potential risks that may not have been as obvious as others. A rubric for feedback is completed on each student. Finally, the student completes a reflective assignment and an evaluation of the activity. This teaching strategy provides insight into the unique social and physical environmental needs of the mental/behavioral health patient.