Psychiatry Nursing

Welcome to psychiatry nursing at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. We believe that nursing here exemplifies a comprehensive, multidisciplinary commitment to excellence and to the highest standards of professional practice, education, and research.

The treatment approach at Johns Hopkins recognizes the multiple dimensions of individuals that contribute to their mental illness. Nurses on the treatment teams have a key role in identifying the behaviors, temperament, disease process, and life story that patients bring to the care setting.

Whether leading patient-focused education groups or presenting in daily rounds, our nurses practice with autonomy in a highly collaborative setting. Nurses play a central role as well in teaching patients that mental illnesses are treatable diseases, like diabetes or heart disease, and that new treatments make recovery or stability within their grasp.

The patient population is comprised of adolescents, adults, and the elderly. Nurses work across the care continuum, from the psychiatry emergency department and acute inpatient units to post-anesthesia care after electroconvulsive therapy, specialty day hospitals and community mobile-treatment. Nursing professionals can select from among many specialty care teams for their practice, so that each nurse develops niches of clinical expertise.

In addition, the department is actively engaged in many research initiatives and its clinicians are continually learning about the biological and genetic components of mental illnesses, always with an eye to providing the most effective care to patients.

We invite you to explore our nursing web pages as well as descriptions of the general and specialty units under Specialty Areas and learn more about a career in psychiatry nursing at Johns Hopkins. If you have further questions, please give us a call at 410-955-6152.

Kelly (Elizabeth) Caslin, MSN

Director of Nursing, Neurosciences and Psychiatry