A study conducted in six psychiatric departments in Southern Sweden shows that nurses in psychiatry spend two hours less per day with their patients than ten years ago. Instead, tasks such as drug handling, conversations with relatives and cleaning take up a lot of time.
Susanne Björkvald has worked as a psychiatric nurse at Region Blekinge for ten years.
- I feel that direct patient contact has decreased, but I think the problem can be even greater in metropolitan regions, she says.
"We do our utmost"According to Susanne Björkvald, one reason for the reduced patient contact is that the nursing staff of the inpatient care today must get faster patient flows as a result of several reorganizations.
- The occupancy rate here should be 80-85 percent but is 97-98 percent. We have also been given more administrative tasks to keep in mind, ”she says.
What problems can a reduced patient contact cause?
- That patients do not feel completely seen. But we do our utmost to always get the help they need. One must not forget that we work for the best of our patients even when we perform tasks such as medication management and health conversations, says Susanne Björkvald.
See the interview with Susanne Björkvald in the clip above.