Practice nurses and the care of patients receiving depot neuroleptic treatment: views on training, confidence and use of structured assessment

The movement of care into the community for the mentally ill with severe an d enduring problems has important implications for primary care services. T his paper reports the findings from an interview with practice nurses worki ng in south-west London, United Kingdom, who had participated in a randomis ed control trial to investigate the effectiveness of training and structure d assessment on clinical and social outcomes of patients receiving maintena nce medication of depot antipsychotics. The aim of the interview was to exp lore current practice, attitudes, confidence and priorities fur training in relation to these patients. Thirty-nine nurses were interviewed, The major ity of practice nurses received scant referral information and worked witho ut protocols, Even though these nurses had received the training, and as a result of the study had increased awareness of the problems of the severely mentally ill, there was a significant relationship between inadequate know ledge of schizophrenia to carry out the task of medication management and l ack of confidence. Although the small size of the sample does not permit ge neralization, important questions are raised for further practice developme nt and research, including the future training needs of practice nurses and partnership relationships with mental health professionals for supervision and support.