Psychiatric-mental health nursing: career characteristics, professional activities, and client attributes of members of the American Nurses Association Council of Psychiatric Nurses.

As the twenty-first century approaches, psychiatric nursing is reviewing its past and speculating about its future. This article reports on the current status of 525 psychiatric-mental health nurses. The nurses responded to a questionnaire designed to elicit information on career characteristics, professional activities, and client attributes. The nurses work primarily in acute care institutions or hospitals. The typical client is white, middle class, and adult. The focus of care in mental health is moving to the community. If psychiatric nurses want a viable role in the mental health system of the future, they must begin to develop a system of care for at-risk populations in the community now.