Building a Model of Mental Health Nurse Practitioner–led Service Provision in Australia

• Mental health liaison nurse (MHLN) services have existed in emergency departments (EDs) in Australia and internationally for many years. However, there is great variation in the way these services are structured, and no standardized model of care has been explicated.
• In Australia, the added value associated with establishing mental health nurse practitioner positions based on the MHLN model is emerging.
• This article describes the successful establishment of an extended hours- mental health nurse practitioner–led MHLN service based in the ED of an inner city teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia.
• Evaluations of the service indicate that a nurse practitioner–led extended-hours MHLN service integrated within the ED team structure provides prompt access to specialized mental health care to people with undifferentiated health problems and removes a significant workload from ED nursing and medical staff.
• A deliberate process of consultation, evaluation and publication was central to building a model of care that meets the needs of the ED and the public.

In Australia, the nurse practitioner (NP) role remains in the early stages of development. The first NP was endorsed in 2000, and in 2014 the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners announced the endorsement of the 1,000th NP. The future challenge is to ensure the continued growth and sustainability of NP models within the local health care system. This brief report documents the research processes and stages involved in establishing a mental health NP-led team based in the emergency department of an inner city teaching hospital in Sydney. Early and ongoing consultation with key stakeholders and a systematic process of evaluation and publication were pivotal to gathering support for the service and constructing a model that meets the needs of patients, clinicians, and the organization.