Article Review
The article “Integrating Primary Care and Behavioral Health: A Nurse Practitioner’s” by Thai and Saw (2014) discusses the role of health equity in primary care. According to the authors, the achievement of effective mental health intervention depends on collaborative efforts between health care providers in primary care and behavioral health organizations. The paper presents information on the experience and perspectives of an ANP in the effort to achieve the integrative objective and improve mental health care. The investigation focuses on a program to integrate primary care with behavioral health in a community setting. It also focuses on the critical lessons through program implementation and provides knowledge on the effectiveness of such programs that involve nurse practitioners. Such efforts are important to support the wellbeing of practitioners as they provide care to mentally ill patients. The demands of service delivery in such settings can be overwhelming.
According to the authors, the need for integration is critical because of the demand for providing services to individual with mental health challenges and the overwhelming responsibility of ANPs. The responsibility will be shared between primary care and behavioral health organizations to achieve positive results for providers and patients. However, it is essential to receive various views from nurse practitioners for effective implementation. They should find the best practice in achieving a smoother workflow for integration. Besides, care providers should address potential barriers, such as miscommunications, to clarify roles by engaging the nurse administrators and staff of the involved organizations. Furthermore, the article recommends various approaches to achieve success, including effective communication to support collaboration, leadership buy-in, and proper team dynamics. Therefore, the successful use of such initiatives will improve service delivery and enhance the health and wellbeing of service providers.