University of Kochi welcomed visiting professor Dr. Pamela Minarik from Samuel Merritt University on June 8 – 10, 2017. During her visit, she shared the knowledge about “PTSD Toolkit for Nurses” to Disaster Nursing Global Leader (DNGL) academia forum among 5 universities. This application designed to teach and reinforce nurse’s knowledge about treatment for veterans with PTSD in USA.
She described these application’s development was based on commitment to improve health services to veterans in the USA that campaigned by American Academy of Nursing. As the veteran had been experienced combat or mission that exposed them to the horrible and life-threatening experiences, it may lead to PTSD. This application could reinforce nurses to gain valuable insight into the nature of PTSD, have a step-by-step process to help diagnose veterans with PTSD, and get information that can be used to delivers effective care to military members and veterans who remain at high risk for PTSD.
Regarding to condition in Japan, disasters situation also might trigger survivors to PTSD. Therefore, by adjusted into term of disaster, she hoped these tool could inspire DNGL academia to develop similar application to improve health care quality to survivor. In line with her, Dr. Hiroko Minami and Dr. Yoko Nakayama which attended this discussion also encouraged DNGL students to explore this opportunity in order to improve disaster nursing practice on PTSD.
On a different occasion, Dr. Minarik also delivered lecturing about “Consultation: Theory and Practice”. This lecture was attended by faculty members and graduate students of University of Kochi. She explained that in health care, consultation is related to work-related problems. She emphasized the importance of CNS (Clinical Nurse Specialist) as a consultant. She described since the request for consultation implies an earned reputation for expertise, and as CNS is identified as an expert, consultation becomes essential for CNS. She provided Psychiatric Consultation Liaison Nurse Specialist, as the example, to comprehend her presentation. Psychiatric Consultation Liaison Nurse Specialist practice is in non-psychiatric setting, such as acute care hospital, ambulatory clinics, or rehabilitation centers, to give consultation to the patient and family, nurse or other clinicians, or even the system itself.
In addition, Dr. Minarik provided private consultation sessions for faculty members and DNGL Students about Psychiatric Nursing issues. More than 5 DNGL students and several faculty members had private consultation with her. This session aimed to expand the knowledge of DNGL Students about Psychiatric nursing issue. (YAC)
*(YAC) stands for “Yudi Ariesta Chandra”.
