title: Providing mental health care to veterans in rural areas: using telehealth in mobile clinics.
abstract: The purpose of this article is to provide information to improve the quality of care of veterans living in geographically isolated areas who require treatment for mental health issues. Because interactive care solutions are currently hot topics in the health care community, they should be viewed as possible strategies to meet the needs of this specialty group of veterans. An intervention using a mobile clinic and clinical video telehealth reduces distance barriers by making it possible for mental health specialists to come to rural veterans instead of the veteran attempting to find a way to get to the practitioner, who may be located in a clinic or hospital many miles away. This article focuses on an alternate strategy-telehealth in mobile clinics-as a possible solution to the mental health crisis of veterans in rural areas.
authors.affiliation: The University of Alabama, Capstone College of Nursing, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA. sdtubbs@ua.edu
authors.forename: Stephanie D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Wynn
authors.forename: Roy Ann
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Sherrod
mesh_terms: D006284:Health Plan Implementation / Q000458:organization & administration; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000451:nursing*; D008952:Mobile Health Units / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration; D019114:Remote Consultation / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012424:Rural Population; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States; D058014:Veterans Health