Understanding Civilian Mental Health Providers’ Knowledge in Providing Care for Active Duty Service Members: Opportunities for Improvement

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: There are a growing number of civilian mental health providers who are treating active duty service members (ADSM) from referrals of local emergency rooms, directly from military installations, or when a military mental health program is unavailable. Civilian providers may be unprepared to address issues that are unique to this population. AIM: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to develop and implement a survey-based knowledge assessment, in order to assess civilian psychiatric advanced practice nurse’s (APN) perceptions, knowledge, and practice of treating ADSMs. METHOD: The investigator developed and validated a survey that was posted on the American Psychiatric Nurses Association All-Purpose Discussion Forum, and the snowball technique was utilized to enhance psychiatric APN colleague recruitment. RESULTS: Seventy-eight participants scored extremely low with average score of 40.4%; however, the psychiatric APNs who received formal training from the Department of Defense on unique mental health issues of ADSMs scored significantly higher (49.6%) than participants without the formal training (38.2%; p = .03). CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the knowledge gap of psychiatric APNs as it relates to the care of ADSMs will allow educators to recommend available trainings or develop trainings that are tailored to meet their needs.