The challenge of nursing personality‐disordered patients

Abstract

ABSTRACT Providing nursing care for patients with personality disorders is seen by many nursing staff as a highly undesirable job. This paper reviews the available literature and attempts to explore why the task of providing nursing care to these clients is so unpopular. Five core areas of difficulty are identified in the literature and each of these will be elaborated upon within the paper: i) these patients are perceived as less reinforcing and more demanding than mentally ill patients, ii) nurse training is inadequate preparation for this type of work, iii) the role of nursing personality‐disordered patients is high in conflict, iv) this type of nursing is traumatising and v) this type of nursing requires specific skills and qualities.The paper will then outline the implications that these challenges have for a nursing service that provides care for personality‐disordered patients. These include the impact upon i) the retention of staff, ii) the recruitment of staff, iii) the patients and iii) an organisation. The paper will also suggest some potential solutions to these challenges.