Case Study: Karen Wall, MA, RN-BC, BSN, Maj, US Army (Ret) at VA Palo Alto Healthcare System

About Me

I have been a psychiatric nurse for 20 years, and will soon be a licensed counselor. Throughout my career, I have used many creative ways to learn my craft and enhance my skills, my favorite medium being visual learning through videos. My present position as a nurse educator in mental health has given me the opportunity to share these resources with my colleagues to help them learn about caring for our patients who have mental illness. I especially love using multi-media to teach newly licensed registered nurses about the exciting world of mental health nursing. The videos are also a great way for long-term nurses to review their knowledge and skills in a short, entertaining way.

My Discovery of Symptom Media

I recently discovered Symptom Media at an American Psychological Association conference, and immediately became a fan of their product. I have a personal subscription just so that I can access the videos anytime I want to use them for educating nurses and other healthcare staff at my facility. My dream is to have SymptomMedia in all of the VA hospitals around the country so our providers and caregivers can benefit from instant, thoughtful, and accurate learning. Symptom Media is constantly updating their library of videos to include the most current evidence based treatments and information on a multitude of diagnoses. The videos are scripted and produced by experts in film production and mental health. Subject matter experts are involved at every step of the process, so I know that what I am watching or showing has been accurately portrayed.

Using Symptom Media

My other favorite use of the videos is to provide education to veterans who are struggling with mental illness. Being able to watch the videos helps them understand their illness as an enhancement to any reading materials they receive. Many times the veteran is not able to read or listen well to a verbal or written educational resource, but they have enjoyed watching the video and being able to discuss the content with me afterwards.

They say some meetings are lucky coincidences… I say this meeting was meant to be. Thank you, Symptom Media, for making my job easier!