Cabanas, Brittany Nightingale. Increasing the utilization of psychologists in healthcare through interprofessional education. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-63dm-ng37
DescriptionChronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer are the leading causes of death in the United States. These illnesses are caused by risk behaviors including: tobacco use, poor nutrition, lack of physical activity, and excessive alcohol use. Psychologists are uniquely equipped to work with patients to reduce engagement in these
behaviors and aid in preventing chronic diseases. However, psychologists are currently underutilized in various healthcare settings. There are numerous barriers that keep patients from accessing mental health services, one of which being healthcare professionals’ lack of knowledge about mental health and what services psychologists can provide. Increasing communication, collaboration, and education between healthcare professionals is crucial to reducing these barriers, integrating psychology into healthcare settings, and providing patients with access to needed care. The main purpose of this research was to expand interprofessional education (IPE) about the role of psychology in healthcare settings to increase communication between healthcare professionals and knowledge about the benefits psychologists can provide in various healthcare settings. A handout was disseminated to Rutgers students in the nursing, medical, social work, and pharmacy healthcare graduate programs about the role of psychology in healthcare settings. Surveys were also conducted before and after participants read the handout to determine if the handout helps increase knowledge about the role of psychology in healthcare settings, as well as assess if the handout increases participants’ willingness to work with psychologists in their future careers. The study found that the handout did expand participants’ knowledge about the role of health psychologists in various healthcare settings, as well as increased participants’ desire to collaborate with health psychologists in their future careers. This study also found that the handout increased how effective participants’ thought health psychologists can be at improving patients’ outcomes, as well as how often they anticipated working with a health psychologist in their careers. Based on the information gathered, recommendations are provided to improve the handout utilized in this study, as well as regarding future directions to improve IPE between healthcare professionals.