Adaptation or Revolution: Telemental Health and Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nursing During

COVID-19

Schroeder, R. A. (2020). Adaptation or Revolution: Telemental Health and Advanced Practice Psychiatric
Nursing During COVID-19. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association,

Early in 2020, the world entered a time like no other in our collective memory. A global pandemic
began to take hold. An outbreak of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) that started in China in 2019 had
turned into a pandemic leaving the United States surprised and ill prepared. By mid-March a national
emergency was declared with many citizens practicing social distancing or self-quarantine based on the
best available evidence for protection and mitigation of the disease. Given the far-reaching nature of these
containment measures the potential for mental health effects on citizens and the providers who care for
them has been immense (Choi et al., 2020). The pandemic has compounded stresses by cutting clients off
from their in-person providers thus compelling them to use technology as a stand-in for face-to-face
contact. For some, this pandemic is likely to become a trauma that will aggravate or surface existing
mental health problems. For others, these symptoms may emerge months or years later. For providers it
has been an avenue to connect with patients and for patients, a link to maintain support. The purpose of
this article is to describe the current COVID-19 crisis and the evolving mental health concerns associated
with it, discuss how mental health practice has changed and discover ways in which psychiatric mental
health nurse practitioners (PMHNPs) can adapt to better prepare for the future.

It is unclear how long COVID-19 will be in our midst. It has presented incalculable medical and public
health challenges as well as confronting us with ethical and moral dilemmas around quality and access to
care. The priority has been to slow the spread of the virus and to combat its medical consequences. More
recently there has been an appreciation of the mental health costs to the caregivers and citizens who are
affected by this tragedy.

There will be a need to study the long-lasting effects of the media attention and psychological exposure
to the threat, its impact on emerging or existing mental health problems, and opportunities to develop
improved resiliency and coping skills for caregivers and the general public.