Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Integrating Behavioral Health Into Family Medicine: Improving Access To Specialty Care Using A Collaborative Care Model, Christina Stephens

DNP Scholarly Projects

Primary care, an extensive of family medicine remains a key access point for patients entering the healthcare system. Accessing medical care and specialty psychiatric services is limited in rural communities. Patients often find exhaustive wait times, untimely referrals, and reliance on emergency services for crisis management. The primary care provider is able to help their community improve access to behavioral health care by using a collaborative approach. This quality improvement initiative used the framework produced by the AIMS Center at the University of Washington and adopted for use creating an 8-week intensive program in a family medical practice located in …

Using A Psychopharmacology Education Program To Increase Primary Care Provider Comfort With Treating Basic Psychiatric Disorders, Latesha Reed

DNP Scholarly Projects

BACKGROUND: Almost 1 in 5 people have been diagnosed with a mental health illness but the supply of psychiatric providers does not meet patient’s needs. Multiple reasons contribute to this shortage and nurse practitioners are part of the solution. Even with nurse practitioners specializing in psychiatric mental health there is still a shortage. Primary care is where most patients first present their mental health issues.

METHODS: Literature review informed the development of the educational intervention presented to the primary care providers using a digital, asynchronous learning format. A gap analysis of organizational needs and weaknesses was used to determine the …

Improving Employee Mental Health: Addressing Depression At The Workplace, Gerald G. Chia Dr.

DNP Scholarly Projects

Abstract Background: Depression is a serious mental health challenge in the US. As frontline workers who are responsible for taking care of a myriad of patients daily, health workers are usually exposed to depressive situations which eventually results in them developing the mental health condition. The purpose of the current project was, therefore, to develop an intervention which helps to improve employee mental health in healthcare settings with focus on depression and examine workplace factors which influence depression among employees of the Outpatient Mental Health Clinic in Washington District of Columbia. Methods: A pre-intervention survey was conducted among 43 employees. …

Psychotropic Pharmacogenomic Testing: Effects On Provider Prescribing Patterns And Phq-9 Depression Screening Scores In A Rural Michigan Family Practice, Nicole Madalinski

DNP Scholarly Projects

The rate of depression across the United States is on the rise with over 16.2 million people experiencing a depressive episode per year (Siu & and the US Preventive Services Task Force [USPSTF], 2016). Medications to treat depression typically take weeks or months to see clinical improvement (Uphold & Graham, 2013). If the medication is not effective, a dose or medication change may occur, lengthening the time spent in a depressive state. This scholarly project retrospectively analyzed charts at a rural primary care practice that implemented GeneSight® psychotropic pharmacogenomic testing for treatment resistant depression. This project sought to understand if …

Primary Care Provider Attitudes Towards Adoption Of Evidence Based Practice: Indicators Of Acceptance Towards Bibliotherapy, Shannon Scott

DNP Scholarly Projects

The rising prevalence of depression is straining the skeletal mental health systems in rural communities, resulting in a majority of patients receiving management for their depression solely by their primary care providers. However, providers need to be empowered with evidence-based resources to provide adequate care beyond pharmacotherapy exclusively. Bibliotherapy, or the prescription of books for the treatment of disease, is readily used by psychologists but less incorporated into the traditional medical model of patient care. This small pilot study provided primary care providers in a rural area complimentary copies of the self-help text Feeling Good (Burns, 2009) to incorporate into …

Depression Screening And Care Management In Diabetes Patients At Rural Health Clinics In Primary Care: Quality Improvement, Marcy Doyle

DNP Scholarly Projects

Depression is one of the leading causes of disease and disability, often found in patients with long-term chronic physical conditions such as diabetes. Collaborative care, which includes care managers, has shown to improve depression outcomes in patients; usual care has been shown to be inadequate. This quality improvement project screened patients with diabetes for depression. Patients with an elevated depression screening score were provided care management support and rescreened every two weeks to evaluate depression symptoms. A small cohort of patients from two rural health clinics participated in the improvement project. The practices noted improvement in depression screening; patients who …