A 30-year progress report on a VA satellite psychiatric clinic program

This paper describes a program of rural satellite psychiatric clinics that has evolved within a Veterans Affairs medical center over the past three decades. The eight clinics are staffed by a single team that includes a psychiatrist, a psychiatric nurse, and two mental health technicians. The team travels to the eight sites at least once each month. The program has achieved its goal of providing outpatient screening, diagnosis, and treatment services to veterans who would otherwise have no access to specialty psychiatric care due to distance and transportation problems.