Mental Health Improvement | NP's evidence based practice / outcomes

Everyone wants to see Mental Health improvement, that is in patients lives, processes, diagnosis, etc.

Taking ownership of your vision for your patients is more than talking about it. It is seeing the forest as well as the trees within it and making choices that improve. 

Mental Health Improvement | This is not a one and done project, ongoing development and challenging the status quo becomes the norm for increasing overall effectiveness, especially with mental health issues.

– Nurse practitioners should take ownership and accountability for driving quality improvements and provide transformational leadership to encourage evidence-based practice changes, according to two speakers at the National Association for Pediatric Nurse Practitioners 2015 meeting, here is what they had to say:

“In today's busy healthcare climate, clinicians are facing growing demands to meet quality of care metrics and financial quotas from management who are not healthcare trained,” Jennifer Disabato, DNP, CPNP-PC, AC, of the University of Colorado College of Nursing in Aurora, states:

“Nurse practitioners [NPs] can become leaders within their teams to identify problem areas and assemble small workgroups to determine potential solutions.”

In 2001, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) outlined six goals for changing the healthcare environment in its “Crossing the Quality Chasm” report: ensuring that healthcare is safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient and equitable.

In a second publication, the “Report on the Future of Nursing,” the organization also supported expanding opportunities for nurses to lead collaborative improvement efforts within healthcare teams and to enable nurses to lead changes that advance healthcare.

“We're hoping to help NPs not only get a better understanding of how to use evidence to guide practice but also how NPs can lead that change and measure those outcomes,” said Bonnie Gance-Cleveland, PhD, RNC, PNP-BC, also of the University of Colorado.

“We want to focus on prevention and behavior change.

• Let's eat healthier.
• Let's be more active.
• Let's decrease risky behaviors and take the focus away from simply writing a prescription.”

Improving Mental Health | This type of action requires actual change, everyone has a tough time with altering the status quo. The benefits of leading healthier lives through improvement is front and center, it is up to all of us to do more, be more, and achieve greater outcomes for our patients.

Step out of your comfort zone (for just a while) and set the example, your efforts and patient satisfaction will thank you.