Title : A quality improvement project investigating the practice of integrative psychiatry on patients with depression
Abstract:
This cohort-based retrospective chart review examines the integrative and traditional psychiatric approaches and their treatment on depression in the outpatient setting using the PHQ-9 scale. With the various approaches to psychiatry, limited research is available on integrative psychiatry on outcomes when compared to traditional psychiatry practices.
Through an analysis of charts at an integrative and traditional psychiatry clinic between the dates of July 2022 to December 2022, this review investigated current approaches to managing a patient with depression symptoms. We looked at the specific variables of PHQ-9 scores, side effects, tolerability of treatments, and number of medications.
This review emphasizes the need for further research to understand the current treatment of patients in outpatient settings and ways this can be improved to better serve patients and improve patient outcomes. This review contributes to the understanding of the management of depression symptoms in the outpatient setting, and the method in which treatment can be improved for advanced practice nurses and providers working in psychiatry.
Audience Take Away Notes:
- The audience will be able to use what they learn to improve the care that is provided to patients with mental health conditions and more specifically depression treatment in the outpatient setting.
- Current treatment mainly focuses on pharmacological approaches which has risks including side effects, adverse events, remission of symptoms, and the long-term impact on quality of life if not appropriately managed therefore the audience will be able to use what is learned to:
- Develop an understanding of the use of Integrative Psychiatry and its Impact on Depression Treatment: the audience will gain insight into integrative psychiatric approaches versus traditional psychiatry practices in managing depression. This topic will review potential benefits and limitations of using integrative approaches.
- Utilizing the PHQ-9 Scale for Depression Assessment: The presentation will discuss the significance of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scale in assessing depression severity and tracking treatment progress.
- Identify Opportunities for Improving Depression Management in Outpatient Settings: This review highlights the current practices in managing patients with depression symptoms in outpatient settings. Nurses will learn about the specific variables studied, such as PHQ-9 scores, side effects, tolerability of treatments, and the number of medications used. This topic will encourage nurses to critically assess existing treatment approaches and explore potential areas for improvement to enhance patient outcomes in their psychiatric practice.
- Informed Decision-Making: The study explores the effectiveness of integrative and traditional psychiatric approaches in treating depression in the outpatient setting. Nurses can use this information to make more informed decisions when formulating treatment plans for patients.
- Enhanced Patient Care: By understanding the outcomes of different psychiatric approaches, nurses can tailor treatments to better suit individual patients, leading to improved patient care and potentially better treatment outcomes.
- Practical Application: The study's emphasis on the outpatient setting provides practical insights that can be directly applied to real-world scenarios. Nurses can adapt the findings into their daily clinical practice, resulting in more effective and patient-centered care.
- This is researching that other faculty could use to expand their research and teaching. In terms of research integrative psychiatry is an area not extensively studied thus this study can be used as a gateway to further research in this topic. In addition, regarding teaching the findings can be utilized to improve training of APRNs to include an integrative approach to improve patient care and treatment outcomes.
- This provides a practical solution to a problem through insight into potential problems in care of patients with depression and the way this can be improved. This information can be used to improve the quality of care provided to patients in outpatient psychiatry. By emphasizing the need for further research and understanding of current treatment approaches, this study can stimulate discussions and initiatives to enhance patient outcomes in psychiatric care.
