The mental health nurse: a valuable addition to the consultation-liaison team.

Nurses, particularly those working in non-psychiatric settings, report that they do not feel adequately prepared to meet the mental health needs of patients. The psychiatric consultation-liaison nursing role has arisen in part, as a response to these difficulties and aims to facilitate access to mental health nursing expertise for general hospital patients and staff. The impact of the introduction of a nursing position into an established consultation-liaison psychiatry service was evaluated using an activity audit, a staff attitude survey, and staff focus groups.