Response to Addressing Gaps in Mental Health Care- Immediate Interventions as a Future Nurse Practitioner

Response to Addressing Gaps in Mental Health Care- Immediate Interventions as a Future Nurse Practitioner

Undeniably, mental health screening allows for the detection of mental health illnesses and subsequently enables the implementation of mitigative measures such as psychotherapy. Notwithstanding traditional barriers to mental healthcare, such as poor access to mental healthcare, still interrogates the effectiveness of global efforts towards improving mental healthcare. NPs play a role in advancing mental healthcare across populations. In resource-limited settings, as in care systems with a high patient-caregiver ratio, NPs can enhance access to mental healthcare by leveraging their skills and expertise to help patients with mental health illnesses.

To begin with, NPs, being nurse educators and health promoters, can be involved in raising awareness and educating communities on diverse mental health illnesses (Kumar et al., 2020). This can be attained through a systematic educative approach at the point of care. In these educative approaches, NPs can highlight the individual aspects of mental health illnesses, including the risk factors and the preventive measures against these illnesses (Turi et al., 2023). NPs can also foster a safe and non-judgmental environment for patients with mental health illnesses, where they share their emotions and thoughts even as they await referrals. NPs can also assess patients with mental health illnesses. By using their knowledge of mental health illnesses, including aspects of distinguishing psychopathologies from physiopathology, NPs can advise patients on the right consult to consider and even recommend individual psychotherapies that may be effective in alleviating their client’s illnesses. As a future NP, I intend to position myself to bridge apparent care gaps in mental healthcare by maintaining knowledge of diverse mental health illnesses, including their remedies. This way, I will be able to help my patients, even in the wake of poor access to care accustomed to staff shortages.

References

Kumar, A., Kearney, A., Hoskins, K., & Iyengar, A. (2020). The role of psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners in improving mental and behavioral health care delivery for children and adolescents in multiple settings. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 34(5), 275–280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2020.07.022

Turi, E., McMenamin, A., Kueakomoldej, S., Kurtzman, E., & Poghosyan, L. (2023). The effectiveness of nurse practitioner care for patients with mental health conditions in primary care settings: A systematic review. Nursing Outlook, 71(4), 101995. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2023.101995

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PLEASE WRITE RESPONSE
You identified the recommendations and the need to enhance mental health screenings, as well as being proactive in access to care for those patients identified with mental health concerns, nice discussions.

With access to care a significant issue for patients with mental health issues, what immediate response would you implement as a future NP if your patient had to wait for a psychiatric provider?