Geropsychiatric nursing: a clinical knowledge base in community and institutional settings

1. The term clinical knowledge base refers to the foundations and areas of knowledge that are integral to an independent and interdependent clinical discipline. 2. The clinical content essential to establish a research base in geropsychiatric nursing includes normal and abnormal aging, nature and magnitude of geriatric mental health problems, diagnostic categories, caregiver and family roles, and cultural determinants of mental health problems and care. 3. The clinical knowledge base for geropsychiatric nursing care in both community and institutional settings consists of the components identified above and the logical integration of each. Integration can be achieved by including these themes in the theoretical and clinical training of nurses.