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.