what is mental health nursing practice and who decides?
In addressing this question, I turn to some of the research I have been undertaking in Australia concerned with the notion of expanded practice in mental health nursing. In this context, expanded practice refers to practices that have been previously regarded as the exclusive domain of the medical profession and which are not normally considered to be part of the nurse’s scope of practice, for example prescribing medication, referral to medical specialists and the ordering of diagnostic tests. The development of the nurse practitioner role has generated considerable interest in these and in advanced practice roles in nursing. Elsewhere we have called for a clear differentiation between expanded practice and advanced practice (Elsom, Happell & Manias 2005). One of the interesting findings of this work has been the surprising extent of expanded practice already occurring on an informal and perhaps ‘illegal basis’. Many community mental health nurses (for example) routinely advise general
