The current issue or opportunity for change is limited access to mental health care services for individuals in rural and remote locations. Many individuals and families suffer from lack of access to mental health services leading to health disparities and increased stigmatization. Close to 5) million Americans suffer or will suffer from a mental illness (Modi et al., 2022). Further, Mental Health America (MHA) (2023) observes that even those with health insurance lack appropriate access leading to poor outcomes like suicide and serious mental challenges. As such, the problem is huge and requires organizations to train their employees to leverage better tools to address it. The proposed EBP will focus on enhancing access to mental health services and its scope will be within and outside the mental health facility that will provide telehealth to mental health patients.
The stakeholders will include organizational managers and leaders, nurses and other healthcare workers, patients, and their families as well as the community. These stakeholders will work collaboratively to implement the proposed EBP idea. The risks associated with change during the EBP implementation will include resistance to change, limited resources and support from the organization, and insufficient knowledge on implementation among nurses (Melnyk et al., 2022).
Limited access to mental healthcare services reduces quality of life for individuals and populations with mental health issues. Disparities in access to mental health persist with those in remote and rural locations and people living with disabilities being the most affected. The underserved population in rural and remote locations and those with mobility challenges require better access to these services (Melnyk et al., 2022). As such, the proposed EBP idea for change is integrating healthcare technologies like telehealth to improve access to mental health services. The proposed EBP is based on the EBP approach as it is supported by existing research evident based on the formulated PICOT question. Healthcare technologies like telehealth and telemedicine offer a fundamental change approach to mental health access for underserved population (Green et al., 2020). The proposed idea shows that telehealth and other innovative healthcare technologies can help reduce the current disparities for underserved population in rural areas and those with disabilities.
Transferring knowledge is an important aspect of EBP for implementation in clinical settings (Green et al., 2020). Knowledge transfer will occur after the creation through a critical appraisal and review of the existing research studies or article, clinical experience and expertise, and patient’s preferences (Melnyk et al., 2022). The team will create knowledge through implementation of the proposed EBP idea. The implementation will happen by integrating the proposed strategy in clinical practice settings (Pass et al., 2022). Dissemination will require training and seminars to enhance nurses’ utilization of telehealth and patient’s training. Additionally, communication, engagement, and participation will be critical to effective dissemination and implementation in all settings. Other strategies to transfer knowledge will include integrating as an intervention to offer mental health services and through hospital boards as well as sharing within the teams.
Disseminating EBP is essential for stakeholders to understand the proposed interventions. Dissemination of results to the audience enhances understanding and application of the new knowledge and improves overall interests in the intervention. Effective dissemination happens through appropriate communication and collaboration among the various stakeholders. In this case, dissemination will focus on integrating the proposed EBP into all processes and procedures within the organization. This means telehealth will be an option to provide mental health services (McNett et al., 2021). The team will make an oral presentation during staff meeting or at special sessions while the long-term approach would be to integrate telehealth through a policy statement. The team will also publish the findings of this EBP in a peer-reviewed journal for wider audience in various parts of the world and health sciences (Smith, 2021). The organization will also provide training through collaboration on ways to enhance access to mental health services for underserved populations in remote and rural locations.
The proposed EBP change will have significant measurable outcomes on the target population. These benefits include enhanced access to mental health services for rural and remote locations. For instance, teleh
Struggling with online classes or exams? Get expert help to ace your coursework, assignments, and tests stress-free!