Implementation and Evaluation of a Military-Civilian Partnership to Train Mental Health Specialists

Overview

Journal Mil Med

Publisher Oxford University Press

Specialty Emergency Medicine

Date 2019 Jan 29

PMID 30690507

Citations 1

Authors

Scott A Simpson

Matthew Goodwin

Christian Thurstone

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Introduction: Mental health specialists (MHS, or 68X) play a central role in meeting the growing demand for combat stress care among Service Members. Partnering with civilian institutions may enhance the MHS training experience beyond Advanced Individual Training (AIT).

Methods: We describe a novel military-civilian collaboration to train U.S. Army Reserve MHS's in the psychiatric emergency service (PES) of a public, safety-net hospital. Details of implementation are described. The training rotation was evaluated after 1 year through a comprehensive chart abstraction of patients seen as well as surveys of MHS's and civilian partners.

Results: The roles of MHS and physician officers in this rotation are described. Over 9 days in the PES, the MHS team evaluated 26 patients. MHS's described a high-quality training environment (83% rated very good or excellent) in which they frequently saw high-risk patients relevant to military practice. Experience with a certain patient presentation was correlated with comfort assessing and managing that presentation (p < 0.01). Many civilian staff (40%) felt the PES operated better with the presence of the Army team and 50% of civilians agreed their impression of the U.S. Army Reserve improved as a result of the partnership. Hundred percent of specialists and 80% of civilians reported very good to excellent rapport between military and civilian staff. Two civilian respondents (11%) expressed concern that the military team's presence impeded patient care.

Conclusion: This is the first military-civilian training collaboration for behavioral health specialists, who have already completed AIT. This program provided well-received and mission-relevant training for MHS's without notable adverse effects on patient care or team functioning in a civilian environment. Our findings are based on a small sample size, and no other such programs exist against which to compare these results. We propose that such educational partnerships, which have long been effective for other clinical specialists, may benefit the military, civilian communities, and the country.

Citing Articles

Cross-training Social Workers to Work in a Psychiatric Emergency Service during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Curry A, Simpson S Acad Psychiatry. 2021; 45(5):603-607.

PMID: 33409941 PMC: 7787700. DOI: 10.1007/s40596-020-01375-x.

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