NP’s Model Helps Prevent Mental Health Issues from Slipping Through the Cracks

Brenda Reiss-Brennan, PhD, APRN.

When psychiatric NP Brenda Reiss-Brennan started her independent family therapy practice in 1978, she began to get referrals from primary care providers who were unsure how to handle their patients’ mental health needs. Working with one patient at a time limited her ability to reach many people, so in 1984 she developed a model to train other nurses, primary care providers, and clinics in treating patients with mental illness. The model eventually caught the attention of Intermountain Healthcare, a nonprofit health care system located in Salt Lake City, Utah, which piloted a program featuring the model in its primary care settings.

The care model, which became known as Mental Health Integration (MHI), integrates the treatment of mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, and substance abuse into the primary care system. Instead of handing out a referral to an external provider and losing patients to follow-up, the MHI model ensures that patients’ mental health conditions and general health care needs are treated in the same primary care practice. Patients receive education materials, are screened for suicide, and are provided a safe environment in which to discuss their mental health concerns. “Patients and families are […]

2016-12-15T16:34:32-05:00December 12th, 2016|Nursing, nursing roles|0 Comments
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Web Crawl: Unprofessional Workplace Behavior Irks Nurses; APNs Seek Primary Care Rights; Whistleblowers on Trial; More

Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, AJN interim editor-in-chief

I spend a lot of time checking various web sites for news or new information nurses need to know, for interesting items for blog posts or articles, or for trends that may be coming down the pike. Here’s some “food-for-thought” items I found in my recent web crawls:

On nursingworld.org, the American Nurses Association, in a recent poll, asked site visitors if they had been “a target of unprofessional behavior” in the workplace. A startling 82% of respondents said yes. While “unprofessional behavior” was not defined (when you think about it, it could be any number of things, ranging from gossip and practical jokes to bullying and unwanted sexual advances), the fact that so many people feel this way deserves further exploration. What about you? What have you seen on your unit that might fit this category of “unprofessional behavior”?

Vindy.com, an Ohio news outlet, reports that advanced practice nurses (APNs) in the state want more recognition and freedom to practice. According to the article, the Ohio Association of Advanced Practice Nurses (OAAPN) is seeking legislators to remove restrictions that prevent them from heading the medical home models of primary care. Currently, physicians must be the designated head of the medical home. (See our article on this.)  Jacalyn Golden of OAAPN said APNs “have proved themselves since they began providing primary care in 1965.” Amen.

Remember the “Sentosa Nurses,” the nurses from the Philippines who became embroiled in prosecution after they quit en masse from New York nursing […]

2016-11-21T13:20:12-05:00January 14th, 2010|Nursing|4 Comments
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Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
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