Background
This topic is important because mental health problems are an international and national concern in Europe. More than 27% of people are estimated to experience some mental ill health during any one year. A number of patients need inpatient psychiatric care. A patient may be a danger to him or herself or to other people. Patients right to self-determination may be restricted during inpatient care. Such interventions include the use of the seclusion room, physical restraint, physical holding, forced medication. These are ethically sensitive interventions violating human rights and dignity during psychiatric hospital stays. Stgmatization and discrimination still persist.
The goal of Erasmus programme is to improve the quality and to increase the volume of the students and teaching staff mobility throughout Europe. Erasmus-programme increases the co-operation between higher education institutions in Europe.
Lifelong Learning Programme promotes intercultural dialogue related to education and cultural issues in psychiatric care in Europe. Lifelong Learning Programme is one of the programmes of European Commission, which aim is encourage people to study.
Vocational education of psychiatric nurses varies widely in European countries. The length of nursing education differs in European countries. Futher, patients and nurses in psychiatric services come from different cultural backgrounds, witch challenges nurses capacities to work in multicultural psychiatric services.
This project is an innovative method to develop core courses in nursing education to support harmonization of European nursing education in the field of mental health care and psychiatric nursing care. The PsychIP –Intensive Programme extends the expertise in the field of mental health care into those universities where it is still lacking.
The PsychIP-Intensive Programme builds a new dimension in the topic of mental health care and psychiatric nursing in Europe. Programmes such as PsychIP are organised first time at the international level. In this demanding area of psychiatric nursing, systematic co-operation not exist in the European area. The PsychIP-course supports the establishment of networks between universities with developed programmes and facilitate the exchange of experiences and good practises.
Goals
The PsychIP-course gives high quality education in the field of mental health.
The specific objectives are:
- To bring together university students and staff in different countries to ensure high quality education related to evidence-based practises and outcomes concerning patient restrictions in multicultural European psychiatric services.
- To develop efficient teaching on the topic of evidence-based practises and outcomes concerning patient restrictions in multicultural psychiatric services, to develop new synenergies between European countries, educational organisations, disciplines, students and teachers in multicultural learning and teaching conditions.
- The PsychIP –programme is a real opportunity for European universities to support the Lifelong Learning Programme by taking a first step toward joint master´s degree in the field of mental health care and psychiatric nursing in Europe.
- The PsychIP –programme increases nurses´understanding of similarities and differences between individual, organisations, nations, cultures, attitudes related to patient care in psychiatric services. Being aware of different value bases, outcomes of restrictions used and good practises in psychiatric care it is possible to support the development of nurses´deeper understanding of ethical dilemmas and how to manage them in clinical practise.
- The PsychIP-Intensive Programme will initiate and increase international networking between students, teachers and nurses in the field of mental health and psychiatric nursing, which is clearly lacking in Europe.