Mongolia leads the way in mental health nursing in Asia

Mongolia could lead the way in nurse education in Asia, thanks to an international €1 million project led by our University.

A team of six universities will develop a new 18-month postgraduate diploma in mental health nursing – the first course of its kind in Asia – in a project funded by the EU’s Erasmus+ ‘Building Capacity in Higher Education’ programme.

Project lead, Professor Fiona Nolan, said: “This is a huge opportunity for Mongolia to lead the way in Asia in developing specialist mental health training for nurses. It is recognition of the need for an appropriately skilled workforce in this complex area of healthcare.  

“We anticipate that this will raise the status of nurses through enhancing their expertise and leadership abilities. I’ve been collaborating with colleagues in Mongolia for several years now and am excited to deliver something tangible that will directly benefit patient care. 

“This programme will bring together mental health nursing curricula from around the world which is innovative in itself. Clinical practice in mental health varies between countries, and is determined by legal, cultural and economic parameters. For example, mechanical restraint is legal in some countries but not others, and access to medication is often restricted in lower income countries.”

The Mongolian Mental Health Nurse Training (MoMeNT) project will involve Finland’s Turku University of Applied Sciences and Utrecht University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, along with three Mongolian partners: the Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences, Enerel Medical Institute and Etugen University.

The team will engage non-government agencies, healthcare providers, the Mongolian Ministry for Health and the World Health Organisation’s in-country office, all of whom provided support during the project’s development. Early support from the British consulate was also key.

Professor Nolan, Florence Nightingale Foundation Clinical Professor of Mental Health Nursing and Visiting Professor at the Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences, has been working with Mongolian authorities since 2014 on ways to improve the country’s mental health care provision, within their restricted resources. 

A pilot group of nurses from Mongolia’s National Mental Health Centre will be trained in 2019-21.