04/05/17  Portland, Ore.

Joanne Rutland, P.M.H.N.P., B.C. and alumna '01 of the OHSU School of Nursing Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner master's program, knows how important continuing education is.

By Christi Richardson-Zboralski

Rutland now works in Coos Bay at the Coos Health and Wellness which is a county organization that serves Oregon Health Plan, indigent and some medicare clients as an Adult Psychiatric Services Manager. In her role there, she provides direct client care and Adult Medical Team leadership, including supervision of medical staff, psychiatric assessments, medication management for severely and persistently mentally ill clients. In addition, she also works at Bay Area Hospital on the Acute Psychiatric Unit doing night call and weekend coverage. The Unit is an 11 bed secure unit.

Recently she attended a continuing medical education (CME) event in Coos Bay called Mental Health: Challenges and Treatment in Adult Primary Care put on by the OHSU School of Medicine's division of Continuing Professional Development. The outcome of the event was more than organizers had hoped for, with 112 individuals on site in Portland and 15 in Coos Bay.

Rutland said, "Coordinated care has been an ongoing project. It is difficult in Coos Bay due to the frequent turn-over of medical providers," she said. "We have a small solid group of PCP's who have been here many years. We have many more short-term PCP's. The constant turn over makes coordination challenging, as each new PCP has their own ideas about mental health care."

Rutland was one of fifteen providers who viewed the recent CME event from Coos Bay. The goal of this particular conference to better equip the primary care provider at delivering effective mental health care to their patients.

Rutland advocates for continuing education. "I not only take my own continuing education seriously, but I have provided medication education classes for CHW staff intermittently for the past seven years. I really enjoy teaching and learning. I have been a preceptor for NP students from Gonzaga, University of Washington and am now signed up to be a clinical preceptor for OHSU medical, physician assistant, and nurse practitioner students."

We are proud to have our alumni participating and active in our Oregon communities.

**Also posted on the SoN News blog