Heidi (Boland) Holiver, MS’22, RN

DNP student in the Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Track, Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing

By Colleen Locke

The colleges in the Higher Education Consortium of Central Massachusetts have an agreement that if a student has a need for an emergency psychiatric evaluation, the evaluation is performed by UMass Memorial Medical Center’s Emergency Mental Health Services (EMHS). For their scholarly project, Heidi (Boland) Holiver, MS’22, RN, and Paige Laperle, MS’22, RN, interviewed clinicians at EMHS and the consortium colleges and completed chart reviews of students who presented to EMHS for an emergency health evaluation between August 2019 and June 2020. Holiver and Laperle paid particular attention to discharge instructions and follow-up communication.

“This time period in people’s lives, it’s such a vulnerable time. I think they need advocates. Absolutely,” Holiver said. “You see it on the news, students are struggling, but when you don’t have the specific data on hand, it’s hard to address the needs.”

A registered nurse at McLean Hospital, Holiver has a bachelor’s from the College of the Holy Cross. Laperle has a bachelor’s in athletic training from Springfield College. They hope to publish their research findings.