Psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners experiencing therapeutic alliance while using tele-mental health: A phenomenological study.

BACKGROUND: Psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners have rapidly adopted and implemented tele-mental health in their practice; however it is unclear how this modality of care affects the experiential quality of therapeutic alliance, simply defined as the interpersonal working bond between provider and patient. OBJECTIVE: This study is the first to explore how psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners experience therapeutic alliance while using tele-mental health. DESIGN: Husserlian phenomenological qualitative study. PARTICIPANTS: A purposive, convenience sample of 17 American psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners who engaged in tele-mental health care were recruited online and interviewed. METHODS: Phenomenological interview transcripts recorded and later thematically coded in the qualitative software MaxQDA. RESULTS: From 1426 individual codes, five major themes and 16 subthemes were discovered. Overall, themes illuminated that psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners could build therapeutic alliance over tele-mental health using inherent interpersonal skills that had to be adapted to the technology. Adaptions included working with patient environmental factors, individual patient considerations, provider ambivalence, and technological observation shifting awareness and communication patterns. CONCLUSIONS: When adapting for the tele-mental health environment, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners experienced building and sustaining therapeutic alliance with most patients. Unparalleled aspects of tele-mental health allowed for a fuller clinical picture and logistical convenience to see patients more often with ease for both the provider and patient. However, experiential aspects of therapeutic alliance created during in-person care could not be replaced with tele-mental health. In conclusion, participants concluded that a hybrid care model would enhance therapeutic alliance for most patients.

A Theoretical Framework for Conducting Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Virtual Care & Research.

Despite rapid adoption and implementation, theoretical research considerations for virtual care (VC), defined simply as healthcare delivered using technology, are lacking across psychiatric mental health nursing (PMHN) scholarship. By adapting Hildegard Peplau's Interpersonal Relations Theory (IRT) and Media Richness Theory (MRT) using an intermodern and emancipatory knowing approach, a new framework was created for guiding modern PMHN VC research. Using this theoretical framework, readers can gain awareness of how the art and science of PMHN practice can be applied to VC scholarly endeavors in the modern healthcare space.

Clear integration of nursing and media theories to inform modern psychiatric mental health nursing virtual care and respective clinical vignetteDetails how the art and science of psychiatric mental health nursing can be applied to virtual care and researchFuture research applications regarding psychiatric mental health nursing virtual care are providedAmple review of interpersonal relations theory in psychiatric mental health nursing practice.

Advanced Practice Registered Nurses Using Synchronous Telepsychiatry: An Integrative Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Despite wide-spread use, telepsychiatry use among psychiatric mental health advanced practice nurse practitioners (PMH APRNs) has not been systematically explored in the literature. AIMS: Systematically review the PMH APRN usage of live-time, synchronous telepsychiatry including audiovisual teleconferencing technology. METHOD: A comprehensive, systematic search was performed with no publication date restriction across CINAHL, the Cochrane Library, Embase, Google Scholar, PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science on July 30, 2019, by a medical librarian. Each citation was blinded and independently reviewed by three reviewers, and consensus was reached for inclusion. Eligible articles were peer-reviewed research or quality improvement articles available in full-text, written in English, including real-time, synchronous, audiovisual telepsychiatry services with PMH APRN providers. Discussion articles and literature reviews were excluded. Article quality and bias were assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) assessment tool. RESULTS: The search yielded a total of 342 articles, and only nine articles met full inclusion criteria. Overall, risk of bias was high in all studies, and the GRADE rating consisted of three "very low," five "low," and one "medium" quality article. However, considering the collectively positive outcomes from PMH APRN telepsychiatry use, the overall GRADE recommendation was to "probably do it" for seven studies and "do it" for two studies. CONCLUSIONS: Though existent literature is low quality and sparse, evidence supports that PMH APRNs can feasibly and successfully provide telepsychiatry services across a wide range of demographic patients and locations. PMH APRNs should contribute more original evidence to guide telepsychiatry implementation and adoption as the service expands.

Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners Meeting Rural Mental Health Challenges.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the current rural mental health system crisis in the United States and how psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners (PMHNPs) can holistically mitigate this systemic issue. METHOD: Respective to the objective, relevant literature is reviewed. RESULTS: PMHNPs have successfully increased access to care in underserved rural communities by practicing at the fullest extent of their scope without mandated supervision, utilizing telepsychiatry practice, while expanding PMHNP rural mental health education and research to meet and absolve pressing rural mental health challenges. CONCLUSIONS: Current evidence supports that rural mental health care improves when PMHNPs have full scope of practice, utilize telepsychiatry, engage in related scholarly activity, and have formalized education and training for rural health care delivery, which collectively answer the professional and moral call serving the underserved rural population with mental illness.