Managing Depression In The Primary Care Setting

Depression in the primary care setting – super common. With a shortage of mental health providers and increasing numbers of patients with symptoms, depression is becoming a leading primary care health concern. If you feel unsure or unprepared for these patient encounters, you are in the right place.

This week, we’re taking some of the mystery out of working with patients with depression in the primary care setting. We’ll cover:

✅ Red flags of depression assessment, and how to handle them when you find them

✅ Key resources you need to know out at your clinic (and outside your clinic)

✅ What differentials to watch out for

✅ Approach to medications, and important factors to consider

There is an entire specialty track within the Nurse Practitioner world (PMHNP) that is designed to treat patients with mental health concerns. As Family Nurse Practitioners, there are limits to what is appropriate for us to treat – but we can certainly help our primary care patients experiencing this very common concern. 

SI assessment tool here: https://www.counseling.org/docs/trauma-disaster/fact-sheet-6---suicide-assessment.pdf?sfvrsn=2

PHQ-9 screening here: https://www.mdcalc.com/calc/1725/phq-9-patient-health-questionnaire-9 

Mood disorder questionnaire (MDQ): https://www.ohsu.edu/sites/default/files/2019-06/cms-quality-bipolar_disorder_mdq_screener.pdf 

Read the blog post here.

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