2015-18: Increased Therapeutic Use of Technology in Inpatient Mental Health: An Assessment of the Benefits and Challenges of Allowing Access to Cell Phones and other Electronic Devices in an Inpatient Mental Health Unit over the last Five Years

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2015-18: Increased Therapeutic Use of Technology in Inpatient Mental Health: An Assessment of the Benefits and Challenges of Allowing Access to Cell Phones and other Electronic Devices in an Inpatient Mental Health Unit over the last Five Years

This presentation will share how the inpatient mental health unit at the San Francisco VA gradually began allowing patients to access their cell phones and personal or unit electronic devices for functional, social and therapeutic purposes. Now five years later, we share the benefits and challenges related to that change.


Presenter:  Heather C McCormick, MPH, BSN, RN-BC, PHN

Disclosures:  The presenter and planners have no conflict of interest or commercial support to disclose.  Off-label uses will not be discussed during this presentation.


Session Length:  35 minutes

Target Audience:  RN, APRN


Learning Outcome:
Upon completion of this presentation, the participant will be able to:

  • Describe the benefits and challenges of access to personal and unit-owned electronic devices for functional, social and therapeutic purposes in inpatient mental health units.

Keywords:  Inpatient, Technology, Electronic Devices, Smart Phones, Practice, Safety


Continuing Nursing Education:
0.5 contact hours.  * In order to receive contact hours, you must: Listen to presentation, complete an evaluation, and earn a passing score on the post-test before the expiration date. You will have 5 tries to correctly answer the questions on the post-test and a score of 80% is required to pass. Once you have passed and completed an evaluation, the certificate will be generated online, available for you to print immediately. You cannot earn credit unless all steps are completed.

The American Psychiatric Nurses Association is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.


Originally Presented
APNA 32nd Annual Conference
Columbus, Ohio
Thursday, October 25, 2018
10:15am - 11:00am

The contact hours for this session expire:  January 1, 2022

Components visible upon registration.