12 hours ago
Samantha Pitt
RE: Discussion – Week 1
Top of Form
By working in Behavioral Health, this writer has seen many advances in informatics and data that has improved healthcare in terms of efficacy and the ability to reach and treat more patients. This writer has observed how telemedicine provides prompt mental health assessments to patients in the emergency room setting. Not only does this offer a quick assessment of the patient by a clinician via a computer but it speeds up getting the patient admitted and can identify a patient who does not meet the criteria for admission. This is new as many patients would have to wait for hours in the emergency room to be evaluated by a psychiatrist which would extend the admission process. One of the major cons of having the patient wait is the prolonging of care. Many patients often suffer a crisis when treatment is not delivered in a timely manner.
When thinking of how informatics could enhance my area of practice, compliance is the first issue that came to mind. Many behavioral health patients at some point may become non-compliant with medications (William, 2015). One of the reasons for noncompliance is the side effects related to many psychotropics such as weight gain and gynecomastia in men (William,2015). This writer’s solution to this problem is to utilize telemedicine in a way that monitors the patient’s intake of the medicine each day. A clinician, via video monitoring could assess the drug and ensure that the patient takes the medicine. This could also be a good time to assess for side effects and even get an understanding of the patient’s living situation and what might not be a conducive living environment.
Another issue in Behavioral Health is the monitoring of medication levels in the blood as mismanagement of this can be lethal for many patients (Haring, 2015). Informatics could be beneficial in that physicians and other clinicians could be reminded to check these levels by prompts that could be attached to the medicine whenever it is ordered. There also could be specific nurse documentation to record the level of the drug before administering the drug. The nurse must then complete a blood draw and record it before the med can be given. This could also work for recording the dates and keeping track of long-term psychotropic injections.
This writer also believes that telemedicine would be a great advancement for crisis hotlines. Instead of just calling a hotline when one is contemplating suicide it would be highly beneficial to see and speak with a therapist that could assist the client. Many people suffering a crisis may find it difficult to open up and trust someone over the telephone. Therefore, having the person visible may bring better results in terms of improving the trust factor between patients and clinicians.
References
Haring, C. (2015). Influence of patient-related variables on clozapine plasma levels. American
Journal of Psychiatry, (11), 1471.
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of
knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
William, B. (2015). Preliminary Findings of Noncompliance with Psychotropic Medication and
Prevalence of Methamphetamine Intoxication Associated with Suicide Completion.
Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, (2), 78.
