Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example

Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example

            Limited access to mental health treatment significantly results in immense suffering, reduced quality of life, increased mortality rates, and the rise in economic and social costs to the mentally ill individuals’ patients, groups, or families. As a result, the effective intervention plan integrates mental health services into primary health care to facilitate accessibility and improve outcomes in rural settings (Wakida et al., 2018). The delivery of mental health services through such settings can be effective and sustainable. It utilizes existing resources to facilitate access to mental health services and early detection of mental health disorders, ensuring better outcomes. Notably, during the development of this intervention program, three practicum hours were spent with the family suffering from depression and schizophrenia. Their views on the program’s effectiveness were collected and analyzed based on the evidence-based practices on reducing disparities in mental health services in rural areas.(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

The Role of Leadership and Change Management Strategies in Improving Access to Mental Health Services in Rural Areas

            Leadership and change management plays a crucial role in addressing the disparities in mental health services in rural areas. Farahnak et al. (2020) observe that leadership revitalizes and facilitates the adaptation of mental health workers and the population to the changing environment. In addition, strategies and efforts of implementing change management are most successful when leaders are aware of the types and steps in the change process and the importance of applying appropriate models in solving organizational problems (Rosen et al., 2018). As a result, change management provides an opportunity and strategies for bridging the gaps in mental healthcare provision to patients in rural areas.(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

            Generally, Farahnak et al. (2020) illustrate that leadership and change management strategies such as putting employees first and empowering them through communication, adopting a change management model, and activating leadership significantly influenced the development of the proposed integration of mental health services into primary health care. For instance, effective communication and engagement of health care employees during planning and implementation of the integration process mobilize and create a desire for change. (Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)Similarly, having a change management model that identifies needs, plans and implements change opens the way for the adoption of the intervention plan, making it possible to connect the strategy to the action of implementing it (Farahnak et al., 2020). In addition, the potential of communicating the intervention plan to the leadership of the health care system and the general population guided the development of the solution. This ensures that the leaders effectively advance the change process by helping the health care organization interpret the effect of the intervention plan on the population in the rural areas.(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Application of Nursing Ethics in Developing the Intervention Program

            Nursing ethics were necessary during the development of the intervention plan. Niveau and Welle (2018) explain that ethical principles such as beneficence, autonomy, and justice were applied during the planning of the intervention plan. The ethics made it possible to understand various health disparities that are likely to impair the outcomes of the process and lead to the inclusion of contingency solutions like referral of the mentally ill patients to other social workers and health care team members for improved health services. Moreover, advocating for the equal treatment of patients and exclusively explaining the intervention plan will help improve trust between the health care workers and patients (Niveau & Welle, 2018). Through this, patients can comfortably share information about their cultural and socio-economic status, thereby improving their health outcomes. Furthermore, the aspects of the intervention plan improved through constant collaboration with other health care professionals. These include considering patient safety and rights when integrating mental health services into primary health care, ensuring the elimination of inconveniences that might affect the patients.(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Strategies for Collaborating with the Patient, Family, or Group

            Rosen et al. (2018) identified some best-practice strategies that can effectively promote communication and collaboration with patients and families diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression. They include; the use of the teach-back method to help confirm whether the patient and family understand the information provided by the health care professional and they can comply with the treatment plan for improved health outcomes. Another strategy is using interpreters to eliminate the barriers resulting from the patient’s language ability (Nickel, Weinberger & Guze, 2018).(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example) The interpreters can explain the medical terms associated with the treatment plan to ensure that the patients fully understand the procedures and consequences of not following them. Also, it is vital to take multidisciplinary approaches like playing the primary role of educating the patients about their care practices and the medication interventions. This can help improve their satisfaction and medication adherence during the treatment process.(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

            Moreover, Rosen et al. (2018) illustrate that encouraging the patients to ask questions and take notes can effectively engage them to become active partners during the treatment process. This helps them recall and synthesize essential instructions. Finally, a practitioner can include written materials to enhance communication and collaboration with the patient. These materials should be language and literary appropriate and contain brief and focused information, which is essential to the patient’s need to understand and manage their conditions.(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

            Notably, these strategies are essential in gathering the patient’s input and improving their care (Nickel, Weinberger & Guze, 2018). Some of the benefits include an increase in the satisfaction and trust of the patient in the intervention program. The improvement in the patient’s quality of life and understanding the patient’s requirements. An improvement in establishing plans and decisions by combining various opinions from the patients and monitoring and evaluating various health care services. Lastly, the benefits include the opportunity to deal with the disparities in mental health care services.(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

State Board Nursing Practice Standards that Guided the Development of the Intervention

            The study by Delaney et al. (2018) on “The Effective Use of Psychiatric Mental Health Nurses in Integrated Care: Policy Implications for Increasing Quality and Access to Care” demonstrates the significance of nurses in facilitating the objectives of integrated care models. It reviews various policies, ethics, and standards of practice necessary to implement integrated mental health care models in rural areas to facilitate mental health services. As a result, during the development of the intervention program, various nursing practice standards and government policies were applied to ensure that the program satisfies the requirements of the government and nursing policies (Delaney et al., 2018).(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example) The standards of practice include; first, a nurse should develop a professional and therapeutic alliance with the client. This standard ensured that the intervention covered the needs of the mentally ill patients in rural areas to access mental health services.(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

            Second, a nurse should acquire and integrate evidence-based knowledge through continuous learning. The intervention program was designed to consider the safety and quality of the services offered by reviewing and analyzing evidence-based literature on the program. As a result, it recognized potential risks and solutions to the adverse effects that might arise during the implementation of the intervention program. Third, a nurse should apply leadership and collaboration strategies to improve nursing practice’s safety, quality, and effectiveness (Delaney et al., 2018). The intervention program was developed through collaboration with the patient, family members, and professionals in the nursing community to ensure that its outcome improves the quality of the mental health services in the rural areas. Finally, a nurse should uphold and incorporate a professional code of ethics in their professional practice. The development of the intervention program complied with the ethical and legal considerations established by the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (Niveau & Welle, 2018). These include the support of patients’ moral rights to make informed decisions, as seen during the three practicum hours with the patient and their family suffering from depression and schizophrenia.(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Application of the Intervention Program to Improve the Quality of Care, Safety, and Reduce Costs

            Integrating mental health services into primary healthcare will reduce the costs, such as transport to mental health facilities primarily located in urban centers, since primary healthcare facilities are well distributed across rural areas (Jacobs et al., 2020). As a result, the patients can save on these indirect health expenditures. On the other hand, the health care system would save on the costs incurred in managing and operating mental health facilities. When these facilities are integrated into primary health care, the staff is reduced, including expenses on social amenities such as electricity and water supply. Additionally, Wakida et al. (2018) illustrate that the integration would improve the quality of care as patients can easily access the facility early before their conditions deteriorate, making it easy to treat them.(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

            Notably, primary healthcare facilities offer continuous treatment and care throughout an individual’s life instead of consultation and treatment in mental health facilities, which often results in poor response to treatment, as Jacobs et al. (2020) illustrate. They would also benefit from the available emotional and social support networks within the community and reduce instances of isolation, as the patients would be closer to their families and people they trust. This reduces stigma, thereby helping the patient corporate with the treatment. Wakida et al. (2018)(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example) observe that the availability of different professionals in a primary health care facility is essential in facilitating collaboration with mental health professionals. This can help incorporate different strategies and treatment interventions beneficial to the patient’s specific condition. Finally, patient safety would improve through the integration since the environments in the primary health care facilities are mainly similar to those in their localities due to the proximity with the health facility (Jacobs et al., 2020). This means that the patients can easily adapt to the environments and reduce incidences of injuries such as falls that are mostly witnessed when patients change environments.(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Application of Technology, Care Coordination, and Community Resources in Improving Access to Mental Health Services

            Technology tools, such as the adoption of Information technology by mental health facilities, can help improve access to mental health services by enhancing patient engagement through e-prescribing to the services or using mobile technologies. According to Fiske, Henningsen, and Buyx (2019), this helps a therapist analyze and discuss electronic and personal health records with the patients online. Additionally, health-IT tools such as language and literacy-specific tools and visual aids can effectively facilitate patient-therapist communication in cases where the patient has limited English proficiency. Telehealth services also effectively facilitate virtual meetings between a clinician and a patient. Through this, patients in rural areas can consult virtually and get support without traveling to urban centers for the services (Fiske, Henningsen & Buyx, 2019).(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

            Moreover, Jones et al. (2018) observe that care coordination can be applied to improve access to mental health services by coordinating care strategies between various specialists and community health workers. Through this, the community health workers would be fully equipped with the resources necessary in caring for mentally ill individuals, thereby improving access to mental health care. Furthermore, community resources such as peer-peer education programs or support groups can effectively reduce mental health disparities within rural areas (Jones et al., 2018). In this case, the support groups counsel and support mentally ill patients like those with mild to moderate depression. In addition, the support groups can help promote mental health awareness, educate the community on the effects of discriminating and stigmatizing mentally ill individuals, and facilitate their recovery and social inclusion.  (Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

            To sum up, integrating mental health services into primary health care is crucial in improving access to mental health services in rural areas (Wakida et al., 2018). Improving and developing such a strategy involves effective leadership, collaboration, and communication. Additionally, nursing standard practice policies and ethics informed the development of the intervention plan to improve the quality of care, patient safety, and reduction of costs to the system and individual (Delaney et al., 2018). Moreover, the analysis also covered the application of the application of technology, care coordination, and community resources in improving access to mental health services in rural areas.(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

References

Delaney, K. R., Naegle, M. A., Valentine, N. M., Antai-Otong, D., Groh, C. J., & Brennaman, L. (2018). The effective use of psychiatric mental health nurses in integrated care: Policy implications for increasing quality and access to care. The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 45(2), 300-309.(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Farahnak, L. R., Ehrhart, M. G., Torres, E. M., & Aarons, G. A. (2020). The influence of transformational leadership and leader attitudes on subordinate attitudes and implementation success. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 27(1), 98-111.(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Fiske, A., Henningsen, P., & Buyx, A. (2019). Your robot therapist will see you now: ethical implications of embodied artificial intelligence in psychiatry, psychology, and psychotherapy. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21(5), e13216.(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Jacobs, R., Aylott, L., Dare, C., Doran, T., Gilbody, S., Goddard, M., … & Williams, R. (2020). The association between primary care quality and healthcare use, costs and outcomes for people with serious mental illness: a retrospective observational study.

Jones, A., Hannigan, B., Coffey, M., & Simpson, A. (2018). Traditions of research in community mental health care planning and care coordination: A systematic meta-narrative review of the literature. PloS one, 13(6), e0198427.

Nickel, W. K., Weinberger, S. E., & Guze, P. A. (2018). Principles for patient and family partnership in care: an American College of Physicians position paper. Annals of Internal Medicine, 169(11), 796-799.(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Niveau, G., & Welle, I. (2018). Forensic psychiatry, one subspecialty with two ethics? A systematic review. BMC Medical Ethics, 19(1), 1-10(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Rosen, M. A., DiazGranados, D., Dietz, A. S., Benishek, L. E., Thompson, D., Pronovost, P. J., & Wesaver, S. J. (2018). Teamwork in healthcare: Key discoveries enabling safer, high-quality care. American Psychologist, 73(4), 433.(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Wakida, E. K., Talib, Z. M., Akena, D., Okello, E. S., Kinengyere, A., Mindra, A., & Obua, C. (2018). Barriers and facilitators to integrating mental health services into primary health care: a systematic review. Systematic Reviews, 7(1), 1-13.(Integration of Mental Health Services into Primary Health Care Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

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