TTUHSC Responds to Mental Health Needs in West Texas (Continued)
Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program
Calloway knew a psychiatric nurse practitioner program was desperately needed in West
Texas. An already established focus on rural health and telemedicine practice made
the program a slam-dunk addition to course offerings, while the proactive nature of
care that the program provides would attract more nurse practitioners to TTUHSC.
“We as nurse practitioners want to promote health rather than repair what wasn’t prevented,” she said. “Obviously we are there for ‘repair’ care as well, but ideally we would do such a good job with health promotion activities we would avoid long-term disability from mental health disorders. Therefore, our focus in the program is early identification and treatment of issues to stop lifelong disability, which is why we focus on child adolescent mental health promotion.”
TTUHSC’s PMHNP program is one of the first in the country to offer a telehealth course and is the first in the nation to provide Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Health (TF-CBT) certification to students.
The first cohort of the PMHNP program was admitted January 2017, and eight students of the inaugural class graduated in December — the remaining students will graduate at a later date.
TTUHSC at Permian Basin Psychiatry Clinic
TTUHSC at Permian Basin opened a new psychiatry clinic November 2018, funded by Midland
Development Corporation. The campus will also house the first TTUHSC psychiatry residency
program.
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved funding for 16 residents and has allocated $2.1 million over the next two years for their training. The fellows and residents will treat an average of 9,720 patients in the new facility. (A TTUHSC psychiatry residency program is also in development in Amarillo. Read more in the Winter 2018 issue of PULSE.)