A description is provided of "Introduction to Psychiatric Nursing," a 7-week course offered to juniors and seniors in a bachelor of science nursing program. The first sections present information on curricular placement, time assignments, and the targeted student population, and define psychiatric/mental health nursing. Next, the course description highlights the philosophy of the school of nursing and the place of an introductory course in psychiatric nursing in the curriculum; specifies goals and long-range objectives of the course; and lists instructional materials. Next, the seven course units are presented; i.e., introduction to psychiatric nursing; communication with peers and patients; mental health counseling of children and adolescents; nursing care of the patient with disturbed coping patterns; nursing care of the patient with disintegrative life patterns; nursing care of the patient in crisis; and summary and review. For each unit, the instructional goal is presented, along with objectives phrased in terms of specific in-class and out-of-class assignments and reading assignments. The final section presents student evaluation and course revision procedures. (HB)