Savannah
Warren
Vanderbilt University
Savannah is expected to graduate from Vanderbilt University this August with her masters in nursing. She plans to be credentialed as a family nurse practitioner in the fall. She is interested in primary care practice due to the opportunity to build long lasting patient-provider relationships. This passion was influenced by the work she did with Vanderbilt’s Program of Inter-professional Learning (VPIL). This included a two-year rotation at an otolaryngology clinic working alongside students from other medical disciplines (medicine, pharmacy, and social work). VPIL sharpened her desire to put patients first by working alongside other professionals instead of in a silo.
Presenting at the Nexus Summit:
Head and neck cancers (HNC) and treatment affect quality of life and predispose patients with HNC to mental health disorders (MHDs) (Lee et al., 2019). These patients have an increased risk of in-hospital medical, certain surgical, and total complications, as well as increased costs (Gao et al., 2021, Jeffery et al., 2019).
Addressing these mental health comorbidities in patients with HNC may reduce costs, improve resource efficiency, and better patient outcomes. However, few studies have measured the impact of interventions on those with HNC. We hypothesized that by screening for depression…