Summary: In summary, the responses on the questionnaires indicated that the psychiatric nurse educators hold the following opinions.
Effective preparation of student nurses for the psychiatric experience entails a long-range program based on proper recognition by the faculty- of the value of the psychiatric experience in the basic nursing curriculum. It requires a satisfactory psychiatric orientation of those responsible for the teaching program as well as of those with whom the student works during her early clinical assignments. It rests on a dynamic in-service educational program designed to keep each member of the nursing staff familiar with the psychological concepts which underlie all good nursing care. It demands the integration of good mental hygiene attitudes and the basic skills of psychiatric nursing care in the student's total educational program, and a faculty trained to assist the students in translating this knowledge from the academic to the practical situation. Students should be better prepared to adjust quickly and maturely to the psychiatric-experience and to apply what they learn to the total care of each patient.
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