Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Commons^™

Optimizing The Psychiatric Referral Pathway Between Community Health Center Primary Care Partner And An Academic Medical Center Psychiatric Practice: Baseline Assessment Of The Current State And Needs, Katherine Verdier

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Background

The shortage of mental health professionals and the stigma associated with seeking mental health care has contributed to the need for primary care to provide mental health services. While primary care providers are well-placed to offer mental health treatment, they may not feel comfortable prescribing psychotropic medication in their practice. In the absence of full collaborative care models, consulting with psychiatric specialists can help primary care providers to manage mental health conditions in primary care.

Local Problem

At a community health center (CHC) in Worcester County, Massachusetts, primary care providers (PCP) provide mental health treatment for patients and have …

Patient Satisfaction With Telehealth To Access Psychiatric Health Services In Rural Outpatient Psychiatric Health Settings: A Project Proposal, Chimezie C. Onuchukwu

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Abstract

Telehealth competencies of the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties for Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN) are fundamental in psychiatric health management. This project examined patient satisfaction with telehealth services through surveys and interviews, focusing on factors such as quality of care and provider-patient relationships, comparing satisfaction levels between in-person visits and telehealth services while evaluating how telehealth impacts overall service utilization.

Methodology: The project applied a mixed-methods approach. In structured interviews and surveys, patients were surveyed on satisfaction scores based on convenience, usability, provider-patient communication, and perceived care effectiveness. A comparative analysis was done between telehealth and …

The Impact Of Brief Electronic Guided Mindfulness Meditation On Anxiety Scores, Sierra King

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

In the United States, anxiety rates are on the rise for the general population (Goodwin et al., 2020a). Prolonged and frequent anxiety can become unprompted and problematic (American Psychiatric Association, 2021). Management of anxiety is crucial for overall wellbeing. Access to treatment and resources for anxiety may be limited in rural geographical locations (Morales et al., n.d.). This DNP project sought to determine whether a brief intervention of electronic guided mindfulness meditation (MM) by Insight Timer is effective in decreasing anxiety in a rural populous. Convenience sampling recruited a final total of 11 rural participants who participated in seven sessions …

Implementation Of A Protocol To Improve The Intake Assessment And Treatment With Suboxone Among Patients’ Dependent On Opioids On Two Mental Health Crisis Units, Maeghan Dillon

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Abstract

Background: In 2021,106,699 people died from a drug overdose and of these deaths, over 75% were related to illicit or prescription opioids (Centers for Disease Control, 2023). At two in-patient community crisis stabilization units for psychiatric care, many patients have a comorbid diagnosis of a substance use disorder and another mental illness. Treatment with Buprenorphine/naloxone (Suboxone) is associated with decreased opioid overdoses and related deaths; however, Suboxone inductions have not been a part of admission treatment.

Methods: This quality improvement (QI) project initiated a Suboxone protocol for eligible patients on two crisis in-patient stabilization units. The outcomes …

Implementation Of A Peer Mentoring-Network Initiative In Outpatient Psychiatry To Improve Psychiatric Advanced Practice Nurses' Job Satisfaction, Maria Romanoff Rand

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Background: Post-pandemic rates of mental illness have increased, resulting in a rise in demand for psychiatric services. At the same time, a growing shortage of psychiatric providers is occurring. This combination has given rise to an expanding mental health crisis where strengthening and stabilizing the psychiatric workforce is paramount. Psychiatric Advanced Practice Nurses are uniquely qualified to staff this shortage. Therefore, positive job satisfaction for Psychiatric Advanced Practice Nurses is vital to increase and retain psychiatric healthcare providers available to address this critical need for mental health services.

Methods: At the project site, the shift to telehealth, changing leadership, and …

Communication Assessment Tools For Emergency Department Nurses Who Interact With Individuals With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, Holly Hunt

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Abstract/Executive Summary

Problem Statement: Communication is an essential part of every nurse-patient interaction. During the best of times the patient and nurse can clearly understand each other and engage in successful interaction with positive patient outcomes. Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) often use nontraditional ways of communicating that can complicate the ideal nurse-patient interaction. When a patient presents with a different method of communicating, the nurse must possess tools available to facilitate a successful interaction. Identifying such a tool or if one cannot be found building a sample tool is vital for positive patient outcomes for individuals with …

The Effectiveness Of Targeted Education On Improving Nurses’ Self-Efficacy In Caring For Psychiatric Patients On Medical Surgical Units, Rachel Shirey

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Individuals with mental illness are occasionally hospitalized on medical units, specifically medical-surgical units. Nurses working on medical-surgical units may find patients with mental illness more challenging due to the complexity of care they sometimes require. Nurses’ perceived ability to provide quality care for these patients is reduced in comparison to their perceived ability to care for patients without mental illness. Consequently, low self-efficacy can result in the provision of a lower quality of care for this population. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to improve the care that patients with mental illness receive while hospitalized on medical-surgical units. …

Implementation Of A Primary Care Toolkit To Improve Dementia Diagnosis And Management In A Rural Setting, Meredith George-Wieland

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

BACKGROUND: There are six million people with dementia living in the United States and this number is expected to rise exponentially due to the aging population. In the United States, it is estimated that only two thirds of dementia cases are recorded during primary care visits and an estimated, one third of cases have been either missed or disregarded.

LOCAL PROBLEM: In a remote primary care clinic on Kodiak Island, off the southeastern coast of Alaska, there is a lack of dementia and related cognitive diagnoses in the primary care setting due to patients’ and families lack access to the …

Utilization Of The Calm Apparatus To Adult Men And Women With Atrial Fibrillation To Decrease Emergency Department Visits For Atrial Fibrillation, Ami Klein

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

The purpose of this project is two-fold. The first is to determine if the CALM APP use by adult men and women with atrial fibrillation (AF) will decrease anxiety. The second is to determine if decreased anxiety utilizing the CALM APP will deter admissions to the emergency department (ED) for AF in the first month post-catheter ablation of AF. The Zung SAS was used to determine the pre- and post-anxiety scores. The Seven Days of Calm (free app) was used to teach deep breathing and meditation. This study showed a moderate decrease in ED visits with use of the Calm …

Implementing Telemental Health To Improve Access To Mental Healthcare In Rural Vermont, Julia Mcdougal Ronconi

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

BACKGROUND: Mental health access in rural areas is a national problem. Of strategies to increase access, telemental health has the highest level of evidence.

PURPOSE: This project aimed to implement a telemental health program in rural Vermont to: (a) increase the number of rural-dwelling patients who enter treatment for anxiety and depression, (b) evaluate the effectiveness of telemental health for depression, anxiety, and overall functioning, and (c) evaluate patient satisfaction with the accessibility, quality, and affordability of the service.

METHODS: Adult psychiatric diagnostic evaluation, medication management and psychotherapeutic interventions were delivered via telemental health. The service was marketed to Health …

Poster: The Opioid Epidemic: Assessment Of Primary Prevention Interventions In Muskingum County Public Schools, Terra Armstead

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Understanding that the Opioid epidemic is much greater than an epidemic of mortality is critically important. This epidemic is also an epidemic of dependence, addiction, disability, and other severe adverse events affecting millions of people in the U.S. (Franklin, Sabel, Jones, Mai, & Baumgarter, 2015). The opiod epidemic is complex and can be considered a man made epidemic.

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

Doctor of Nursing Practice 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 …

Using Clinical Supervision To Improve Interprofessional Collaboration, Melissa Copenhaver

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

USING CLINICAL SUPERVISION TO IMPROVE

INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION

By

Melissa Copenhaver

Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) is important to the future of the healthcare system in that IPC is part of the solution for promoting better healthcare outcomes (Gilbert, Yan, & Hoffman, 2010; Reeves, Perrier, Goldman, Freeth, & Zwarenstein, 2013). Marshall (2011) notes that “interprofessional collaborative practice promotes team identity, conserves energy by a unity in direction, and invites harmony of efforts” (p. 158). The skills needed to engage in IPC are cultivated through interprofessional education (IPE) (Reeves et al., 2013). Currently, at Northern Michigan University (NMU), there are limited opportunities included in …

Nursing Perception Of Psychogenic Nonepileptic Spells: Improving Patient Outcomes, Amanda J. Cramer

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Patients with psychogenic nonepileptic spells (PNES) have generally poor outcomes and many fail to engage in evidence-based treatments (Thompson et al., 2013). Negative healthcare provider perceptions have been implicated as a barrier to patient engagement in treatment recommendations for PNES (Whitehead, Kandler, & Reuber, 2013; Worsely et al., 2011). Illness perception of these patients has been evaluated from the perspective of physicians in multiple settings but perceptions by nurses are not well studied despite the close interactions that nurses have with these patients.

This project used Pender’s health promotion model to collect information about the nursing experience with patients with …