THE HUMAN-SCIENCE BASIS OF PSYCHIATRIC NURSING - THEORY AND PRACTICE

Psychiatric nurses in the United Kingdom (UK) have begun to reattend t o people with 'serious and enduring mental illness', At the same time research in the USA and UK has refocused much of its attention on neur oscientific theories and models of serious mental illness, Psychiatric nurses are being encouraged to consider the value of biomedical expla nations of serious illness, such as schizophrenia, and to accomodate t hese theories and models in the practice of nursing. This paper will e xamine the challenge of the biomedical approach for the continued deve lopment of psychiatric nursing theory and practice. It is proposed tha t psychiatric nursing needs to develop further its own 'proper focus', if it is to survive as a key player in the health care field of the 2 1st century.