Whall A L
Issues Ment Health Nurs. 1990;11(1):71-7. doi: 10.3109/01612849009014545.
Although geropsychiatric nursing or mental health nursing with the elderly (MHNE) can be conceived of as a new subspecialty in psychiatric mental health nursing, in essence it is as old as nursing itself, for caring for people of all ages has always been within the purview of nursing. Today, however, in the more developed countries, older adults have increased both in numbers and in sophistication. These two changes have altered mental health care for the elderly. For example, mental health professionals now recognize that the elderly have an image problem which leads to underutilization of existing services. Psychiatric mental health nursing as a whole is questioning the nature of its practice and its place both within academic settings, and within the health care service delivery system. This paper explores the future possibilities and choices for the new subspecialty, mental health nursing with the elderly.
尽管老年精神科护理或老年心理健康护理（MHNE）可被视为精神科心理健康护理中的一个新亚专业，但从本质上讲，它与护理本身一样古老，因为照顾各个年龄段的人一直都在护理的范畴之内。然而如今，在较为发达国家，老年人在数量和复杂性方面都有所增加。这两个变化改变了针对老年人的心理健康护理。例如，心理健康专业人员现在认识到老年人存在形象问题，这导致现有服务的利用率不足。整体精神科心理健康护理正在质疑其实践的本质以及它在学术环境和医疗服务提供系统中的地位。本文探讨了老年心理健康护理这一新亚专业未来的可能性和选择。
