Nursing is a rewarding field in which to work, and nurses care for and support patients in all kinds of specialties types. Mental health nursing works with a complex set of patients. Mental health nurses are registered nurses who have gone through training for licensure. Mental health nurses work with people from all backgrounds to assess and treat psychiatric problems through work in the hospital and the community. Whenever as indicated by Jennifer Wilson Barnett, contributor for the Journal of Medical Ethics, the role of a nurse has expanded, and nurses are now more involved in contributing to patient outcomes. Then the scope of nursing has evolved from the early role of a nurse carrying out orders at a doctor’s bidding. Now let me tell you something. Some ethical dilemmas are specific to mental health nursing and are seen rarely in other areas of practice. Actually an involuntary commitment to care, or a decision made by a family member on behalf of the patient, is often made to protect the patient from harming herself or others. So this presents an ethical dilemma since psychiatric patients have identical legal rights as other citizens. Nonetheless, the patient might contest this decision. Health care organizations have strict codes of confidentiality.
By the way, the nurse faces a dilemma in reporting the information, if a mental health patient divulges information to a nurse that is potentially harmful to himself or others.