ABSTRACT
Change is rarely embraced with open arms, even when there is acknowledgement that something needs fixing. Although the clinical practice of psychiatric nursing is based solidly on communication skills, reframing difficult situations, systems thinking and being articulate, nurses can be as resistant to change as any other group. In my half-century, plus, as a professional nurse, I never cease to be amazed by how we manage to ignore or resist good ideas, common sense and golden opportunities. For this chapter, I have selected three changes which I believe are not only inevitable but will dramatically affect, in a positive way, the practice of psychiatric nurses and the care received by our consumers. These are:
1 The professional practices of nurses will be re-examined, and what they do will be organized by the skills and knowledge needed, not by artificial boundaries. More attention will be paid to answering the question ‘How do you know?’, as innovations in clinical practice are considered.
