Direct care activities for assistants in nursing in inpatient mental health settings in Australia : A modified Delphi study

This paper describes a modified Delphi approach to developing a set of direct care activities for assistants in nursing (AIN) working in mental health settings within a metropolitan local health district (LHD). Although AIN have been employed in a range of health care settings in recent years, they have not routinely been placed in the mental health context. A modified Delphi method was utilised as it has a proven history of application in the health sector, particularly in circumstances where new guidelines, policies or practice frameworks were required. A set of direct care activities for working in mental health settings was developed from an initial set of baseline descriptors and then two rounds of consensus conferencing with a panel of experts. This paper will detail that process and discuss the resulting implications for the consensus reached on the set of direct care activities. (C) 2013 Australian College of Nursing Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd.