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FNPs: Our Colleagues in Health Care

By
Dustin K. McKague, MSN, FNP-BC, CWON-AP
Angela M. McNelis, PhD, RN, CNE, ANEF, FAAN

     Findings from a national study of clinical education in family nurse practitioner (FNP) programs, funded by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, found that FNP students lacked clinical education experiences in mental health. A sample of 3,946 FNP students completed the survey from 2016 to 2018 and reported how frequently during their clinical courses they completed specific tasks across each of three main population foci for family practice: pediatric, adult, and geriatric. Students responded they never performed a mental health assessment with pediatric [n = 443, 11.2%]), adult [n = 114, 2.9%], and/or geriatric [n = 141, 3.6%] patients (McNelis, Dreifuerst, Beebe, & Spurlock, 2021). Moreover, in a focused analysis of the pediatric experiences, almost 30% (n = 1118) reported zero, one or two mental health assessments during their entire clinical rotations (McKague, Beebe, McNelis, & Dreifuerst, 2021). 

     These findings are exceedingly important and timely as our FNP colleagues provide more mental health–related care in our communities. Additionally, with the “second pandemic” of mental illness people are experiencing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, FNPs must have the knowledge and skills to address these needs. As psychiatric mental health nurses, we need to consider how to support our FNP colleagues in this area so that as a profession, we collaborate to improve access to behavioral health services for all populations, but particularly our children. 

References

McNelis, A. M., Dreifuerst, K. T., Beebe, S. L., &. Spurlock, D. (2021). Types, frequency, and depth of direct patient care experiences of Family Nurse Practitioner students in the United States. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 12(1), 19-27.

McKague, D. K., Beebe, S. L. McNelis, A. M., & Dreifuerst, K. T. (2021). Lack of pediatric mental health clinical experiences among FNP students. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 35(3), 267-270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2021.03.008.