Registered Mental Health Nursing (RMN)
ADMISSION OF A PSYCHIATRIC PATIENT
Admission is an act of allowing the patient/client to stay in the health facility for effective clinical management and rehabilitation.
Purpose
- Prevent the patient from causing harm to himself/herself, others and properties
- Assessment, diagnosis and treatment
- Assist patient to perform activities of daily living
Equipment
- Admission bed and its accessories (Per patient condition)
- Manual or electronic folder
- Pen and paper
- Vital signs tray
- Admission and Discharge documents (Manual or Electronic)
- Admission and Discharge book
- TPR and BP charts
- Treatment sheets
- Inventory/Property book
- Ward state
- Report book
- Treatment or emergency tray
Procedure steps
- Welcome the patient, relative(s) and accompanying nurse and take them to the nurse’s station
- Collect the necessary stationery for admission
- Identify and confirm the patient’s name
- Give chairs to the patient and relative(s) to sit
- Establish rapport (refer procedure) with the patient and relative(s)
- Ensure consent form has been signed by patient or significant others
- Complete the necessary admission forms (manual/electronic) by filling them with information collected from patient and relative(s)
- Search and remove all dangerous items such as sharps, lighter, chemicals etc. from patient if any
- Examine the patient from head to toe and record
- Conduct a quick assessment of the patient’s mental status
- Check vital signs and Blood Oxygen Saturation(SpO2) and record
- Ensure routine investigations (RBS, FBS, FBC etc.) per hospital protocol are checked and recorded
- Check weight and height of patient and record
- Inform relative(s) about the protocols for admission and visiting hours
- Assist patient to maintain personal hygiene if necessary
- Orient patient to his/her new environment
- Administer and record any prescribed treatment and observe its effects
- Take inventory of patient’s property and record
- Explain National Health/Private Insurance Schemes to patient and relative(s)
- If patient is a scheme holder, go ahead and process
- If patient is a cash-in patient, request for deposit per the institutional protocol
- Enter patient’s name into admission and discharge book and ward state
- Express appreciation to patient and relative(s)
- Allow relative(s) to see patient and bid goodbye
- Prepare care plan to nurse the patient
- Inform psychiatric social worker in the hospital
- Inform community psychiatric nurse in the patient’s community
- Document all assessments, findings and treatments in nurses’ notes (manual or electronic)
References and further reading
Educational resource only. Follow current Nursing and Midwifery Council guidance, local institutional protocols, scope of practice, and clinical supervision.
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