The impact of Mental Health Nurse Consultants on the care of general hospital patients experiencing concurrent mental health conditions: An integrative literature review.

Most included studies were old, conducted in one hospital setting, descriptive or quality improvement projects, so they cannot show what happens in a contemporary multidisciplinary service. Many outcomes were reported by nurses and other staff, not by patients or relatives, so patient experience was poorly represented. The MHNC intervention was often bundled with staff education, care planning, organisational changes and usual psychiatric or medical care, so the contribution of one component cannot be separated. Survey tools were often self-developed or not validated, and response rates were sometimes low, so there is risk of response bias. Some randomised trials had high dropout, baseline differences, or control groups that could still receive usual mental health care. The included studies measured different outcomes and designs, so the review could not isolate a clear MHNC effect.

Do not read this as proof that a Mental Health Nurse Consultant improves patient outcomes. The review found mostly staff perceptions and low-quality studies, with mixed patient results and concurrent psychiatric or medical care that cannot be separated.