Vol. 2, Issue 1, Part A (2025)

Background: Acute psychiatric settings often face therapeutic gaps due to overreliance on physician-led care, resulting in suboptimal patient engagement, delayed stabilization, and high readmission rates. Structured nurse-led interventions have emerged as a promising strategy to enhance patient outcomes and service efficiency by leveraging nurses’ therapeutic, communication, and crisis management skills.
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of structured nurse-led interventions on clinical, psychosocial, and service-level outcomes among patients admitted to acute psychiatric units.
Methods: A quasi-experimental design was adopted with an intervention and control group, each comprising 120 adult psychiatric inpatients. The intervention group received structured nurse-led care including psychoeducation, de-escalation techniques, and therapeutic communication alongside routine treatment, while the control group received standard care. Outcomes measured included changes in BPRS and GAF scores, length of stay, 30-day readmission rates, patient satisfaction, and therapeutic alliance (WAI). Statistical analyses involved t-tests and effect size calculations (Cohen’s d) to compare between-group differences.
Results: Patients in the intervention group demonstrated significantly greater symptom reduction (BPRS Δ21.8 vs. 16.3, d=0.59) and functional improvement (GAF Δ21.3 vs. 14.2, d=0.76). They also had shorter lengths of stay (7.2 vs. 8.9 days, d=0.59) and lower 30-day readmission rates (12% vs. 21%). Patient satisfaction and therapeutic alliance scores were substantially higher in the intervention group (82.4 vs. 71.3 and 52.1 vs. 45.2, respectively), indicating enhanced engagement and perceived quality of care.
Conclusion: Structured nurse-led interventions in acute psychiatric settings significantly improve patient outcomes, enhance therapeutic alliance, reduce length of stay, and lower readmission rates. Integrating these interventions into standard psychiatric care can bridge therapeutic gaps, promote recovery, and optimize resource utilization. Nurse-led therapeutic engagement should be institutionalized as a core component of modern mental health care delivery.