Nurses should not expect automatic respect from other professionals. But they are more than capable of earning it through sound clinical knowledge and practice and the courage to accept accountability for their actions.
"It's just behavioural" is the excuse mental health workers use when they can't be bothered to understand why a person is behaving the way they are. It's a professional cop-out. The term 'behavioural' has no clinical meaning once we realise that everything that people do is 'behavioural'. The key is to explain it - then we can work with that person. That's far better than attempting to hide our own inadequacies behind a meaningless label.
