The Psychiatric Nurse Care Coordinator on a Multi-disciplinary, Community Mental Health Treatment Team

Community mental health nurses sometimes join multi-disciplinary teams, but the role has not been defined and studied carefully. This article describes the psychiatric Nurse Care Coordinator (NCC)—a unique position created to support care management, facilitate systematic medication management, and coordinate medical care in the Social Security Administration’s 30-site Supported Employment Demonstration. The authors reviewed the study’s NCC manual, supervised and consulted with the NCCs weekly over nearly three years, and reviewed data on NCC activities. Although the 984 participants assigned to NCCs experienced numerous mental health, substance use, and chronic medical conditions, only 59% completed intake assessments and engaged over time with NCCs. For those 581 participants, NCCs spent approximately 51% of their time helping with mental health issues, 35% on medical care, and 12% on substance use conditions. The NCC was critically important for complex, high-need individuals.