S.TRUEMAN PhD THESIS 2016

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I think they [remote nurses] see that they don’t have the [mental health] skills. I think they believe that they don’t have the skills. [T7 p. 13] One psychiatrist (T24) reported that remote nurses tended to have misconceptions about the skills that are required to manage a mental health presentation, and that a bit of common sense goes a long way in a remote area. (p. 5) Psychiatrists in the study reported that remote nurses tend to misconceive the value and level of their understanding concerning a mental health patient’s presentation and hence, believe their input is of limited value, They [remote nurses] know they’re [patient] unwell and they know that they’ve got [a] disorder and they know that they’ve got delusions of persecution or ideas of reference, whatever—they just don’t have the words to describe it and they don’t have a structure to present it. (T24, p. 9) 7.2.4 Mental health nurses (MHNs) Remote nurses have more contact with MHNs than psychiatrists for two reasons: first, MHNs more frequently visit the remote communities, and second, they have greater need for frequent communication. Most mental health nurse teams deliver mental healthcare pursuant to a hub-and spoke model of service delivery to remote communities (see Chapter 2). A state-wide mental health administrator participant referred to the mental health service delivery in remote Australia as follows: In my mind is the satellite sites. There’d be a hub, a major regional resource centre … and then we … travel out to these communities and provide them with that multidisciplinary [mental health] care. [T19, p. 8]