Nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) are increasingly mentioned as a collective solution to the nation’s primary healthcare shortage. There are approximately 234,000 NPs and 115,500 PAs in the United States providing cost-effective patient care, preventive care, and health promotion. But what exactly is the difference between these two groups of clinicians? Practicing Clinicians […]
Family Medicine: The Center of Primary Care Unlike other specialties that are limited to a particular organ or disease, family physicians are the only specialists qualified to treat most ailments and provide comprehensive health care for people of all ages — from newborns to seniors. This looks like this: Caring for patients regardless of age […]
Every physician knows that the process of applying for medical staff membership and privileges can be tedious and time consuming. The forms and photocopies, that long list of yes/no questions, and pouring over the clinical privilege request sheet can take hours. The good news for locum tenens physicians is that, with a little organization on the […]
TWO DISTURBING TREND lines are currently crossing in the area of mental health care. One line, tracking demand for such care, is rapidly rising. In the U.S., nearly 1 in 5 people have some sort of mental health condition, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. The disease burden – the impact of a […]
Treatment Access in Urban vs. Rural Counties Over 115 million people in the United States live in designated Health Professional Shortage Areas. These are areas in which the ratio of mental health professionals to residents is smaller than 1 per 30,000 people. The United States has an average of 30.0 psychologists per 100,000 people 15.6 […]
This year’s World Mental Health Day, on 10 October, comes at a time when our daily lives have changed considerably as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The past months have brought many challenges: for health-care workers, providing care in difficult circumstances, going to work fearful of bringing COVID-19 home with them; for students, adapting […]
When it comes to mental health, too few of us understand what it means. ”Mental health and mental illness are often used as if they mean the same thing, but they don’t,” says Stan Preston, Program Manager, Mental Health, Misericordia Community Hospital. Mental health encompasses our overall functioning and psychological well-being, including our ability to […]
Mental Health Matters October 4-10 is Mental Illness Awareness Week (MIAW), an annual national public education campaign designed to help raise the awareness of the mental illness. This year’s theme, What People with Mental Illness Want You to Know, is part of the National Alliance on Mental Illness’ (NAMI) larger campaign, You Are Not Alone that features the stories of people […]
Nurse practitioners have licensed healthcare providers who assess, diagnose, and treat medical conditions. Nurse practitioners pursue a medical specialty of their choice and must pass a rigorous board-certification exam in order to practice. Those who choose psychiatry earn the credential “PMHNP” which stands for psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners. These nurse practitioners complete either a master’s […]
Isolation is not our normal state. That fact has become abundantly clear these past few months as we have been relegated to socializing less frequently and using virtual means when we do. And while these are certainly necessary precautions during our current health crisis, the effects of isolation can be all too damaging. As we’ve […]
