Erin Harlow-Parker
December 2016
Erin
Parker
,
RN
Emergency Department
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta: Scottish Rite, Egleston and Hughes Spaulding
Atlanta
,
GA
United States

 

 

 

Erin is highly specialized in the care of the entire family in respect to mental healthcare and she is truly a value and gift to our psychiatric department and the Children's nursing community.Her role includes hospital and emergency department consultations as she applies the nursing process to assess, diagnose, and treat individuals or families with psychiatric disorders and identify risk factors for such disorders.
Erin also plays an integral role in the community. Every year she presents at the school nurse forum on child/teen suicide. She also speaks at many community events about the mental health stigma, suicide, and ways to receive help. Afterher talks, she has had young students come up to her to voice their intent to harm themselves. We believe it is this type of outreach that has allowed Erin to impact lives of children and teens in Georgia.
Most recently, Erin met with state representatives to improve and streamline the care of Children's behavioral health patients who also suffer from developmental disorders. These children are the hardest to place due to the lack of accepting facilities. She is advocating for the Department of Behavioral Health and Development and the Georgia Crisis Access Line to re-evaluate a longstanding "6-hour rule" and tedious process to get these patients to the higher level of care they need.
These patients "board" in our emergency departments for days and can actually get worse over time. By streamlining the process of their placement, we can get these kids to the right place at the right time.
Erin also continually conducts training for staff to appropriately care for the behavioral health population. She provides dialogue and patient care examples throughout the presentation that fosters a collaborative and learning environment. Staff walked away with specific tools and examples that can help in their delivery of care to this high-risk population.
She also trains, mentors, and assists with the growing Emergency Department Mental Health Licensed Social Work program. Erin is a high-performing member of the Children's team and she is passionately committed to better serve patients in our facility. Her integrity shines through her interactions with staff as well as her commitment to providing better care for patients and families.