Nurse-led Collaborative Integrated Behavioral Health Rural Network (N-CIBHR)
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Project Title: Nurse-led Collaborative Integrated Behavioral Health Rural Network (N-CIBHR) Organization: Texas A&M University Health Science Center (HSC), College of Nursing Address: 8447 Riverside Parkway, MS1359, Bryan, TX 77807 Project Director: Cindy Weston, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC Contact Numbers: (979) 436-0178 (phone) Email address: cweston@tamu.edu Website: https://nursing.tamu.edu/ Funding Requested: $1,500,000
Project Overview: Texas A&M University-HSC, College of Nursing is an emerging academic leader in preparing nurse practitioners and registered nurses to fill workforce pipeline gaps in rural and underserved areas of Texas. The purpose of this project, Nurse-led Collaborative Integrated Behavioral Health Rural Network (N-CIBHR), is to integrate behavioral health services into an interprofessional family nurse practitioner (FNP)-led primary care clinic to improve access to care and increase clinical education and training for Master of Science in Nursing-Family Nurse Practitioner (MSN-FNP) students and pre-licensure Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students in integrated behavioral health (IBH) through academic-practice partnerships with Bluebonnet Trails Community Services and BIS Community Clinic, a designated Rural Health Clinic (RHC). The N-CIBHR network creates five IBH training sites. Project Objectives: 1) Increase access to interprofessional, FNP-led primary care/IBH, utilizing both in-person and telehealth modalities, for underserved populations in central Texas with specific emphasis on opioid use disorder (OUD) prevention and treatment; through the following: a. Integrate a Psychiatric/Mental Health Licensed Professional Counselor into Bluebonnet Trails’ FNP-led, school-based Primary Care Clinic located in Hutto, TX. b. Provide Tele-behavioral health services to BIS Community Clinic-RHC, an FNP-led designated rural health clinic in Bedias, TX. c. Expand IBH services through FNP-led primary care in Bluebonnet Trails’ behavioral health clinics in Taylor, Giddings, and La Grange, TX. 2) Educate and train the current and future nursing workforce and interprofessional teams to provide evidence-based Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral for Treatment (SBIRT), the utility of medication assisted treatment (MAT), prevention with Naloxone, and recovery support in IBH primary care using innovative virtual reality technology for interprofessional simulation; 3) Improve retention of nurses through empowerment in clinical decision-making with clinical immersion training in IBH utilizing nurses to the full extent of their education and training in IBH Clinics located in setting that serve rural and medically underserved populations. Project Specifics: Through, N-CIBHR, practice, education and retention priorities are accomplished. With Texas A&M College of Nursing as a hub, a collaborative network including Bluebonnet Trails and BIS RHC in Bedias will facilitate integration of services and expand reach while training a workforce pipeline of FNPs and BSNs through clinical immersion in IBH care. The education priority through this care delivery model will employ virtual reality simulation technology and telehealth services to prepare the current and future generation of nurses in IBH using these innovative cyber modalities to address opioid and substance use disorder while increasing access to care. The retention priority will promote nurse empowerment utilizing nurses to the full extent of their education and preparation to deliver primary care and complex care coordination in IBH for rural and medically underserved populations.
