Book excerpt: Mental-health nurses must develop the crucial skills of correct medicines management and calculations in order to provide safe care to their patients. This book specifically supports pre-registration students in meeting the required competencies for medicines management. It has a strong emphasis on understanding the role of medicine as one of a range of treatment options, and collaborative working with patients and carers. It is clearly structured around the NMC Essential Skills Clusters for medicines management, covering law, drugs calculations, administration, storage, record keeping, introductory pharmacology, patient communication and contextual issues.