In the busy world of healthcare, a group of hidden heroes emerges with specialized care and unwavering dedication: meet the unsung champions of psychiatric-mental health (PMH) nursing. These caregivers play a crucial role in shaping compassionate mental healthcare.
We spoke with Angela Amar, PhD, RN, FAAN, the Dean and Erline Perkins McGriff Professor at the New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing. Dean Amar is a PMH nurse with expertise in gender-based violence and discusses the roles of PMH and forensic nursing.
Please talk about your career path and how you became a PMH nurse.
I became a nurse because I liked science and helping people. I’ve always been intrigued by human behavior. Even as a child, I remember watching people interact and wondering why they did the things they did. Psychiatric nursing provides a window into understanding human behavior and the tools and skills to help people. This skill has been very useful as a nurse administrator.
Please talk about what a psychiatric-mental health nurse does.
Psychiatric mental health nurses (PMH) provide nursing care for patients with psychiatric illnesses and symptoms. PMH nurses provide comprehensive care to individuals, groups, families, and communities who are affected by mental illness and substance abuse.
How do you become a psychiatric-mental health nurse?
All nurses receive education and clinical experience in assessing, diagnosing, caring for, and treating mental health and substance disorders. Working in a mental health unit or facility will allow a nurse to learn more psychiatric skills. To become a psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioner, one must complete a graduate education program and become licensed and certified.
You have expertise in gender-based violence and forensic nursing. What is forensic nursing?
The International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN) defines forensic nursing as “…the practice of nursing globally when health and legal systems interact” (IAFN). Forensic nurses are often described as the link between the health care and criminal justice systems. Establishing this linkage between health care and the criminal justice system is essential to providing the comprehensive care victims and offenders of violent crimes need. Specifically, forensic nurses provide specialized health care and expertise to meet the needs of victims and offenders of violence. Specialized health care may include evaluation, identification, and treatment of injuries, collection of biological and physical evidence, legal documentation of injuries, and, sometimes, participation in legal court proceedings.
Can you talk about the field where this expertise is useful?
Forensic nurses practice in various settings with a diverse group of victims and offenders. Many forensic nurses work as part of interdisciplinary teams that investigate abuse or neglect situations with adults and children, as well as teams involved in prevention efforts. Forensic nurses in critical and emergency care and psychiatric nursing routinely interact with individuals who have experienced violence and its consequences. These nurses provide physical care while attending to the collection of evidence and documentation for legal proceedings.
Forensic nurses may work with individuals in prisons and jails’ medical, psychiatric, and evaluation units. Psychiatric nurses work with victims and offenders. Other areas of forensic nursing practice include death investigation, mass disaster care/investigation, and legal nurse consulting. Examples of potential employers include hospitals, community health care sites, law enforcement, coroner’s offices, and the military; potential roles are nurse coroner and forensic nurse examiner.
What types of conditions do forensic nurses manage?
The earliest and most recognized role in forensic nursing in the United States is that of the sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE). The purpose of SANE programs is to provide victims of sexual assault with health care, forensic assessment, evidence collection, forensic documentation, and court testimony. Other roles include death investigation, child, elder, and intimate partner violence investigation, corrections nursing, and legal nurse consultant.
What are the challenges of forensic nursing?
Forensic nurses are exposed to the savagery of violence and crime and the difficult aftermath survivors experience on a daily basis. Self-care and fortitude are important, as is working in a community and on a team that can provide support. As a newer specialty within nursing, the roles are not always understood, and many nurses have created roles for themselves in systems that did not initially see the need.
What are the most critical skills for forensic nurses?
Unfortunately, too many people in our society experience violence and crime as victims and offenders, as well as affected family members, friends, or significant others. Forensic nurses are ready to help them and demonstrate caring, capability, and compassion. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills are essential, as is knowledge of the dynamics of violence and crime.
What makes being a forensic nurse so unique?
Forensic nursing is an innovative and evolving nursing specialty that addresses healthcare issues with a medico-legal component. In responding to the societal and health care needs created by increasing criminal violence, forensic nursing programs provide nurses with the necessary skills for specialized health care and expertise to meet the needs of victims and offenders of violence. Violence and crime are major issues affecting our society. Nurses provide care to victims and offenders of violence in a variety of settings, often without specialized training.
Are there evidence-based guidelines forensic nurses must follow?
All nurses follow evidence-based practice guidelines. This also pertains to SANEs and the other forensic roles.
You’re a leading scholar in gender-based violence and have influenced the direction of campus policy nationally. Can you talk about these policies and their role in nationwide campuses?
My research examines help-seeking behavior, specifically in college students who have experienced sexual or relationship violence. Many young adults do not report violence and often do not receive follow-up care for the physical and psychological effects. My research examined factors influencing help-seeking behavior at the individual, relational, and community levels. Specifically, we explored how friends can be more effective in promoting help-seeking and how campus policies may inhibit or promote help-seeking.
You just finished your first year as the Dean of New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing and Erline Perkins McGriff Professor of Nursing. How did the year go, and what are you looking forward to in your second year?
It’s been a great year. NYU Meyers is a vibrant community in a dynamic and global university in one of the world’s greatest cities. The faculty and staff are talented and engaged, and the students are smart and stellar. NYU Meyers has always had an eye on the future and is a trend-setting and change-making institution. I am excited by the possibilities of continuing to lead the nation, expand our global footprint, and continue with innovative research and teaching while promoting a learning organization where everyone thrives and grows.
Fidelindo Lim, DNP, CCRN, FAAN, a clinical associate professor at New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing, has worked as a critical care nurse for 18 years and concurrently, since 1996, has been a nursing faculty member.
In 2013, Dr. Lim conducted the seminal national study of faculty knowledge, experience, and readiness for teaching LGBTQ+ health in BSN programs across the U.S., and the groundbreaking findings of his research on LGBTQ+ health integration in nursing have been cited in six white papers and at least nine LGBTQ+ policy statements by leading stakeholders.
Dr. Lim has published over 200 articles on various topics, including clinical practice, nursing education, LGBTQ+ health, reflective practice, preceptorship, men in nursing, nursing humanities, and Florence Nightingale. He has been designated as a Nurse Influencer by the American Nurses Association’s (ANA) American Nurse Journal. Additionally, Dr. Lim is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine and New York University’s Aging Incubator and an NYU Meyers Alumni Association board member.
In 2021, Dr. Lim was one of four nurses featured in the ANA-sponsored documentary film “American Nurse Heroes,” a multi-channel network television event celebrating the Year of the Nurse.
He’s the faculty advisor to various nursing student groups at NYU Meyers, including the Asian Pacific-Islander Nursing Students Association, Men Entering Nursing, the LGBT Nursing Student Association, and also a founding member of NYC American Association for Men in Nursing, which represents the goals of men in nursing and advancing men’s health. Dr. Lim frequently brings male nursing students to local New York City schools—including an all-boys school—to provide health education, introduce students to nursing as a career path, and have them see male role models. Dr. Lim has fostered salience in nursing education through high-quality extracurricular programming and active learning and is an imitable mentor and coach to countless students and nurses.
The series highlights healthcare leaders who are prominent figures in their organizations and are making transformational impacts in nursing.
Meet Dr. Fidel Lim, DNP, CCRN, FAAN, a New York University Meyers College of Nursing clinical associate professor.
Talk about your role in nursing and how long you have worked in the nursing field.
I have been a nurse for 36 years—nineteen years as a staff nurse on the night shift in the critical care unit. I have been simultaneously teaching at New York University Meyers College of Nursing since 1996.
Why did you become a nurse?
I got into nursing quite serendipitously. When I was 15 and a half years old, I was sent to Manila by my parents to get a college education. I didn’t know what career to take. I was going with the flow. My sister, who took me to the university to apply for college, was in her last trimester of pregnancy. In those days, college applications had to be done in person. She told me she couldn’t stand in line for long because of her swollen feet. So, I suggested that we go to the shortest line – which was the nursing program’s line.
What are the most important attributes of today’s nursing leaders?
Inspiring others (subordinates, peers, colleagues, students) to achieve their level best is one of the true marks of a leader. It seems rare to find this attribute these days. We have plenty of managers and taskmasters but only some true leaders.
What does being a nursing leader mean to you, and what are you most proud of?
I am proud to have mentored many students over the past two decades. Being a leader means modeling the behaviors you want others to manifest or emulate. A leader must be sincere and intentional in making authentic relationships, not fake camaraderie.
Tell us about your career path and how you ascended to that role.
My first job out of nursing school was as a public health nurse for the Philippine National Red Cross. The bulk of my role was conducting health education training for local villagers. I was particularly amazed to discover that I was comfortable standing in front of an audience, having fun connecting with people, and enhancing their health literacy. This inspired me to pursue my master’s in nursing education at New York University. I was fortunate to be taught by leaders in nursing education and practice. I was like a sponge. I soaked up every bit of inspiration, wisdom, technical and relational skills, emulated my betters, and made these my own. When I graduated from NYU in 1996, I was offered a job as an adjunct faculty member, and in 2008, I transitioned to a clinical assistant professor. Currently, my title is Clinical Associate Professor.
What is the most significant challenge facing nursing today?
The nursing profession’s most significant challenge is keeping nurses at the bedside where they are most needed. The staff nurse turnover is very high. Bedside work has now become a short stop for many new grads on their way to a career as advanced practice nurses and nurse practitioners. There was a time when there were much fewer career choices for nurses. So, nurses stayed on their jobs much longer or held the same job until they retired. Nursing has become the most flexible and dynamic role; the work choices are endless. There is an internal brain drain within the profession.
As an educator, one of the most significant challenges for me is the burgeoning technology, the latest of which is ChatGPT. Appraising students’ learning is much more complicated nowadays if we rely too much on writing assignments. There is also a big disconnect between how we train nurses and the real-time demands of the job. The nursing school focuses on layering facts on the student’s already full plate but is very lean on providing clinical experiences with actual patients. Competency is more important than comprehension.
As a nursing leader, how are you working to overcome this challenge?
Like any complex issue, the challenges in the nursing profession require collaborative solutions from various stakeholders. For example, hospitals should invest (financial and material) in enhancing the clinical experience of student nurses to transition them into therole. Providing opportunities for advancement within the institution is another solution.
As a nursing faculty, I am constantly reading and teaching myself how to hone my skills in teaching, managing large classes, crucial conversations with students, and mentoring others. I remind myself that nursing education should not only teach how to save lives but also how to live.
What nursing leader inspires you the most and why?
I am an avid fan of Florence Nightingale. I have read her most famous book, Notes on Nursing, many times. Nightingale’s erudition and no-nonsense approach to the challenges she faced is what I try to emulate. Her stamina for hard work was a wonder. She was the first and true nurse influencer. She did not depend on how many “likes” she got; she wanted to do what was right for the patient.
What inspirational message would you like to share with the next generation of nurses?
In nursing school, you get the lessons first and then get tested. In real life, you get the test first; then, you learn the lesson. In and out of nursing, you will discover many tedious things you will forget. But it is better to have learned and lost than never to have learned at all.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Have a growth mindset and be patient. Nursing education is different from what it used to be. But then, again, what is?
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