The selection of an appropriate essay topic is one of the most important decisions that undergraduate students make while studying at university. Nursing has always been a very distinct and rapidly advancing academic field that specialises in providing care to individuals of all ages. Furthermore, nursing involves the application of practices and policies that promote the health and well-being of patients, while focusing on preventative measures and the dissemination of information to the general population that reduces the risk of developing diseases. Consequently, it is advantageous for nursing students to be aware of the current trends in their discipline, a fact that can help them widen their perspectives, enhance their knowledge, and thus provide them with the ability to formulate research questions that suit their own interests and goals. Therefore, the following lines will list several nursing essays, divided in appropriate thematic sections that can help guide nursing students throughout the essay writing process. For simplicity, these topics are divided into the following five categories: mental health nursing, critical care nursing, public health nursing, palliative care nursing, and nursing management.
Contents
- Mental Health Nursing Essay Topics
- Critical Care Nursing Essay Topics
- Public Health Nursing Essay Topics
- Palliative Care Nursing Essay Topics
- Nursing Management Essay Topics
Mental Health Nursing Essay Topics
The primary role of mental health nurses is to plan and provide care to individuals suffering from a wide range of mental health issues. Mental health nurses are involved both in promoting and supporting the patient’s recovery but also in empowering patients to be actively involved in their own care, and thus gain full control over their condition. Essay topics pertaining to mental health nursing are the following:
- Factors and mental health issues involved in individuals subjected to sexual and physical abuse.
- The possibility of mental health nurses developing depression when treating patients with mental health issues.
- What are the prominent ethical issues in treating mental health patients?
- How can nurses provide efficient emotional and psychological support to people suffering from dementia?
- What is the relationship between mental health and physical health?
Critical Care Nursing Essay Topics
Critical care nursing refers to the processes that are meant to provide effective and specialised care to unstable, chronically ill, or post-surgical patients, but also to individuals who are at high risk as a result of life-threatening diseases and injuries. Typically, critically care nurses work in intensive care units but also in emergency department and emergency transport. Essay topics pertaining to critical care nursing are the following:
- Optimising communications with patients in ICU.
- Causes of errors and miscommunication in critical care settings: a literature review.
- How to evaluate effectively pain assessment in critical care.
- How to effectively monitor and assess acute secondary complications stemming from primary care issues.
- Optimising management and treatment outcomes of acute ischemic stroke.
- What are the challenges and strategies of implementing efficient non-verbal communication with patients?
Public Health Nursing Essay Topics
Public health nursing focuses on providing and protecting the health of the entire population. In addition to improving community health and increasing access to care for disadvantaged populations, public health nursing encompasses the role of educating and informing people regarding prominent health issues, thus facilitating and empowering their own safety and well-being. Essay topics pertaining to public health nursing are the following:
- Planning and managing health and safety during a pandemic. What has the recent Covid-19 outbreak taught us?
- An evaluation of UK healthcare professionals’ experiences of working during coronavirus.
- What are the current trends, attitudes, and causes that facilitate vaccine hesitancy in European nurses, and what can be done to mitigate this phenomenon?
- What are the advantages offered by community health nursing services as opposed to institution-based nursing services?
- What is the importance of public health nursing in terms of addressing childhood obesity?
- A literature review on educational practices within community settings and their implications on registered nurses in the UK.
Palliative Care Nursing Essay Topics
Palliative nursing refers to the provision of care to patients who are near death and to their families, thus creating a pain-relief and compassionate environment that focuses on distinct psychological and emotional support. The primary elements of palliative care include the control of patient’s symptoms, support for the patient’s family, effective collaboration and teamwork, and communication. Essay topics pertaining to palliative care nursing are the following:
- Management of patients’ self-assessments, integrity and decision making in surgical cases.
- The role of nursing in palliative care and its difference from holistic nursing?
- What is home-based palliative care and how can community nursing optimise this process?
- The challenges in providing end-of-life treatment and their effect on the emotional and psychological well-being of nurses.
- The effects of emotional attachment and bonding between palliative nurses and terminally-ill patients.
- Palliative care education: what are the skills and training needed for nurses to be competent in their profession?
Nursing Management Essay Topics
Nursing management refers to the environment and organisational performance that can facilitate efficient governance and decision-making processes in nursing. Although it is based on the same principles similar to all other management professions, nursing management is bound to influence the quality of care provided, and thus to patient outcomes and satisfaction. Essay topics pertaining to nursing management are the following:
- What is nurse burnout and how can this phenomenon be mitigated?
- Resistance to change as a result of a multi-generation workforce: how can we avoid this?
- What is evidence-based nursing and how can organisations motivate nurses to be consistent with it?
- How can we optimise the transition of nursing students into the highly competitive and challenging hospital environments?
- What are the advantages of nursing leadership in the daily nursing practice?
- Inadequate staffing is a prevalent cause of stress and increased burnout rates. How can nurses improve their self-care?