The Primary- Care-Mental Health Gap in Nursing Education

The World Health Organization has long promoted the integration of mental health into the primary care setting. The passage of the Affordable Care Act and the development of the patient-centered healthcare home have the potential to rapidly accelerate the integration of mental health services in primary care. These future changes in healthcare delivery highlight a need in most advanced practice nursing curriculums for leadership and educational preparation of students to appropriately care for patients with mental health disorders in a primary care setting. Models for primary care-mental health integration and templates for care coordination continue to evolve. However, plans for the work force needed to enact integrated care have not moved forward with the same clarity and vision. By virtue of their education, NPs have the foundation for relationship building critical to mental health care. These interpersonal skills create the requisite culture for patient-centered care. But without nursing leadership, NP contributions could easily be overlooked by health care planners. The preparation of NP students to assume this role will be examined. Consideration of the various advanced practice roles and populations will also be discussed. This symposium will address aspects of curriculum development for mental health preparation in two NP programs. The development of a Behavioral Health Diagnostic Guide which served as the foundation for curricular development in one program will be presented. Additional discussion will identify essential content added to a nurse practitioner curriculum to facilitate NPs success in leading culture changes toward patient-centered care and effective integrated care. The benefits of using dually prepared faculty in developing this content will be discussed.