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Great medical care is not just about the type of treatment one receives, but rather, a combination of treatment and a good rapport between medical professionals and patients. Several studies have found that patients trust doctors and nurses who are more sociable and show sympathy. In a new study, researchers examined how culture and nationalities affect nurses' attitudes toward their mentally ill patients. The study found that Irish nurses are generally kinder to disturbed patients.

"If some nurses hold negative attitudes toward the mentally ill this can impact on patients' recovery. If patients feel they are not been 'heard' by professionals this can lead to frustration and possibly anger, which may sometimes result in violence," Professor Mary Chambers, from the Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education a Kingston University and St George's, University of London explained according to Medical Xpress.

The researchers found that how the nurses perceived themselves greatly affected how they handled their patients. For example, Irish nurses reported seeing themselves as caring and considerate people, where as Lithuanian nurses saw themselves in a more authoritative way. These contrasting viewpoints could explain the differences in medical care with Irish nurses being kinder than Lithuanian ones. The researchers reported that overall, Portuguese nurses had more positive attitudes in comparison to nurses from other countries. Lithuanian nurses tended to have more negative attitudes toward disturbed patients.

"In general, mental health nurses' attitudes to mental illness and people with mental health problems are positive," the authors wrote in the report. "Nurses in Italy, Finland and Ireland have fairly similar attitudes, though nurses in Finland had significantly more negative attitudes than Irish and Italian nurses on the benevolence and community mental health ideology scales. With the exception of England none of the countries had national guidelines regarding how to manage distressed and disturbed patients."

The data the researchers compiled came from six nations, which were England, Finland, Ireland, Italy Lithuania and Portugal. Chambers was a part of the development of a new international online resource called ePsycheNurse.net, which educated and trained people in becoming mental health nurses. The website was able to assess how people from different countries viewed mental health and mental health patients.

The report was published in Open Journal of Nursing.