No health without mental health: the link between chronic disease and mental illness

Many physical health conditions increase the risk of mental illness, while poor mental health is known to increase the risk of diseases such as heart disease, stroke and cancer.To address the issue of unacceptably poorer health outcomes of people with chronic disease and the associated mental illnesses, nurses and midwives need to have the knowledge and skills to identify manage and refer their patients.

As such, the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses has released a series of online resources aimed at improving the knowledge and skills of nurses to identify and manage mental health conditions associated with chronic disease.

These free online resources attract continuing professional development points and focus on four chronic disease areas: cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and respiratory disease. You will need to register to access these free resources which will be made available October 22, 2013.

For further information, and to access these resources, go to www.acmhn.org/chronic-disease-elearning