The mental health and addiction workforce has long been plagued by shortages, high turnover, a lack of diversity, and concerns about its effectiveness. This article presents a framework to guide workforce policy and practice, emphasizing the need to train other health care providers as well as individuals in recovery to address behavioral health needs; strengthen recruitment, retention, and training of specialist behavioral health providers; and improve the financial and technical assistance infrastructure to better support and sustain the workforce. The pressing challenge is to scale up existing plans and strategies and to implement them in ways that have a meaningful impact on the size and effectiveness of the workforce. The aging and increasing diversity of the US population, combined with the expanded access to services that will be created by health reform, make it imperative to take immediate action.
Background: An academic-community partnership was created to integrate education and training on the evidence-based practice of Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for substance use into the undergraduate nursing curriculum at a major research university. The purpose of this paper is to: 1) describe an 11-module addictions training program created through an academic-community partnership; and 2) discuss curriculum implications for other schools of nursing. Methods: A case study presents the collaboration between a school of nursing and a nonprofit agency specializing in addictions that created substance use training materials and skill-building exercises specifically for undergraduate nurses. Results: The 11-module addictions training curriculum component lasted 13 total hours and was incorporated into the 15-week Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing course and clinical rotations. The evidence-based addictions training model was successfully provided to 392 undergraduate nurses and 39 instructors.
community partnership helped to deconstruct the stereotypes and stigma associated substance use, abuse, and addiction
Background Although numbers of physicians credentialed to prescribe buprenorphine has increased over time, many credentialed physicians may be reluctant to treat individuals with opioid use disorders due to discomfort with prescribing buprenorphine. Though prescribing physicians are required to complete a training course, many have questions about buprenorphine and treatment guidelines have not been updated to reflect clinical experience in recent years. We report on an expert panel process to update and expand buprenorphine guidelines. Methods We identified candidate guidelines through expert opinion and a review of the literature and used a modified RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method to assess the validity of the candidate guidelines. An expert panel completed two rounds of rating, with a meeting to discuss the guidelines between the first and second rating. Results Through the rating process, expert panel members rated 90 candidate guideline statements across eight domains, including candidacy for buprenorphine treatment, dosing of buprenorphine, psychosocial counseling, and treatment of co-occurring depression and anxiety. A total of 65 guideline statements (72%) were rated as valid. Expert panel members had agreement in some areas, such as the treatment of co-occurring mental health problems, but disagreement in others, including the appropriate dosing of buprenorphine given patient complexities. Conclusions Through an expert panel process, we developed an updated and expanded set of buprenorphine treatment guidelines; this additional guidance may increase credentialed physicians’ comfort with prescribing buprenorphine to patients with opioid use disorders. Future efforts should focus on appropriate dosing guidance and ensuring that guidelines can be adapted to a variety of practice settings.
Across all sectors of the behavioral health field there has been growing concern about a workforce crisis. Difficulties encompass the recruitment and retention of staff and the delivery of accessible and effective training in both initial, preservice training and continuing education settings. Concern about the crisis led to a multiphased, cross-sector collaboration known as the Annapolis Coalition on the Behavioral Health Workforce. With support from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, this public-private partnership crafted An Action Plan for Behavioral Health Workforce Development. Created with input from a dozen expert panels, the action plan outlines seven core strategic goals that are relevant to all sectors of the behavioral health field: expand the role of consumers and their families in the workforce, expand the role of communities in promoting behavioral health and wellness, use systematic recruitment and retention strategies, improve training and education, foster leadership development, enhance infrastructure to support workforce development, and implement a national research and evaluation agenda. Detailed implementation tables identify the action steps for diverse groups and organizations to take in order to achieve these goals. The action plan serves as a call to action and is being used to guide workforce initiatives across the nation.
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