Date of Conferral
8-19-2025
Degree
Doctor of Healthcare Administration (D.H.A.)
School
Management
Advisor
Miriam Ross
Abstract
Psychiatric hospitals across the United States face a worsening shortage of psychiatrists, particularly in rural and underserved communities, which limits timely mental health care, increases wait times, and places unsustainable strain on the psychiatric workforce. The purpose of this integrative review was to identify administrative strategies that can mitigate psychiatrist understaffing and support sustainable care delivery in psychiatric hospitals. An integrative review methodology was used to explore both empirical and nonempirical literature, resulting in 92 articles, including 32 peer-reviewed sources and several supporting studies selected through a systematic search, screening, and critical appraisal. Thematic analysis of the evidence revealed five main themes: expanding the psychiatrist workforce, funding rural training programs, reducing burnout, providing leadership and team training, and improving equity in underserved communities. Eleven subthemes emerged from the five themes: increasing psychiatrist supply, leveraging psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners, recruiting regionally, developing pipeline programs, addressing emotional exhaustion, enhancing retention, building leadership capacity, strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration, promoting role clarity, expanding rural access, and supporting marginalized populations. Four strategic recommendations emerged from the thematic findings: expanding regional training pipelines, improving retention through emotional support and workplace flexibility, strengthening interdisciplinary team integration, and leveraging adaptive leadership to coordinate team-based care. These strategies, grounded in the integrated team effectiveness model, offer system-level solutions to improve team function, reduce turnover, and expand psychiatric access—advancing equity and resilience in underserved communities.
Recommended Citation
Aramouni, Carla, "Strategies to Improve Psychiatrist Understaffing in Psychiatric Hospitals in Rural and Underserved Communities: Addressing Administrative Challenges" (2025). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 18302.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/18302
