Why Is Better Mental Health Care So Elusive?

PURPOSE:There are numerous barriers to improving healthcare delivery. This article summarizes contemporary theories and research evidence to focus on ways to motivate change within the hospital system to provide better health care.

CONCLUSIONS: Understanding multidisciplinary team processes, recognizing hospitals as systems, and ascertaining the unit culture is a prerequisite for leaders and policy makers to improve mental health practices.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Finding ways to deliver better health care to people with a mental illness is a high priority, and nurses have a central role to play in this pursuit of excellence.