Damarsy Rodriguez

Damarsy Rodriguez, APRN-PMHNP

Core Duties and Responsibilities:
This professional's role will primarily involve the integration of physical and mental healthcare, often referred to as collaborative or integrated care.

Primary Care FNP-C Focus
Drawing on their Family Nurse Practitioner FNP-C certification and over 20 years of experience in healthcare, including a physician background, their primary care duties include:

Diagnosis and Management of Acute and Chronic Conditions: Assessing, diagnosing, and managing common acute illnesses e.g., infections, minor injuries and chronic diseases e.g., hypertension, diabetes, asthma across the lifespan.

Preventive Care: Conducting routine physical exams, health screenings, and providing immunizations and health promotion counseling.

Health Maintenance: Monitoring patient progress, ordering and interpreting diagnostic tests e.g., labs, X-rays, and adjusting treatment plans as needed.

Prescriptive Authority: Utilizing DEA registration to prescribe pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic therapies.

Referrals: Coordinating care with specialists and other healthcare providers.

Psychiatric Mental Health Care PMHNP-BC Focus
Leveraging their Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner PMHNP-BC certification, their mental health duties include:

Comprehensive Psychiatric Evaluation: Conducting thorough assessments to diagnose mental health disorders e.g., depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, PTSD, schizophrenia in individuals across the lifespan.

Psychopharmacology Management: Prescribing, monitoring, and managing psychiatric medications, including adjusting dosages and assessing for side effects, using their DEA registration.

PsychotherapyCounseling: Providing brief, evidence-based individual, family, or group therapy, depending on the practice setting and specific training.

Crisis Intervention: Assessing and managing patients in acute psychiatric distress or crisis.

Collaboration: Working with therapists, social workers, and primary care providers to ensure holistic mental health treatment.

Integrated and Specialized Duties
Given their dual certification and experience, they are uniquely positioned to perform the following:

Integrated Behavioral Health: Treating patients who have co-occurring medical and mental health conditions e.g., managing a patient's diabetes while also treating their depression, recognizing the complex interplay between physical and psychological health.

Psychiatric Consultation for Primary Care: Serving as a crucial resource in a primary care setting for mental health screenings, brief interventions, and initiating treatment for mild-to-moderate mental health conditions, thereby increasing access to mental health care.

Addressing Cultural Barriers: Using their Bilingual EnglishSpanish and Culturally Competent skills to provide equitable care, ensuring that treatment plans respect patients' cultural backgrounds and linguistic needs, which is especially critical in mental health.

Complex Case Management: Overseeing patients with complex needs that cross the medical-psychiatric spectrum, using a patient-centered, evidence-based approach.

Education and Mentorship: Potentially contributing to the education of other healthcare staff or students due to their advanced qualifications and extensive experience as a clinician and foreign-trained physician.