Telemedicine as a Referral Bridge: A Nurse Practitioner–Led Intervention to Increase Initial Psychiatric Appointment Attendance

Autor: Baglini, Kathryn, Bruns, Debra Pettit, Hill, John R.
Zdroj: The Journal for Nurse Practitioners; July-August 2024, Vol. 20 Issue: 7
Abstrakt: Patients with depression and anxiety symptoms present to urgent care settings and receive psychiatric referrals. Referred patients often have difficulty establishing care, leading to low attendance at initial appointments and impacting outcomes. This quasi-experimental study implemented a telemedicine-based intervention in which a nurse practitioner (NP) engaged patients every 2 weeks while awaiting psychiatry. Patients who declined the intervention but consented to follow-up were the comparison group. The intervention group demonstrated an 87% completion rate of psychiatric appointments compared with 0% in the comparison group. The average duration of referral was 63.7 days. Patients with mental illness need support while awaiting psychiatry. Patient engagement from an NP using telemedicine promotes successful transition of patients from urgent care to psychiatry. This NP-led approach promotes referral loop closure and can be used by NPs in various clinical settings, emphasizing positive patient outcomes.
Databáze: Supplemental Index