SMI Adviser Smartphone App Delivers Expert Guidance With Just a Few Taps

Expert advice and an enormous volume of resources on serious mental illness can now be at your fingertips by downloading the new SMI Adviser App for smartphones.

The free app is the latest feature of an effort by APA and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to leverage digital technology in the service of patients with serious mental illness—an effort that is winning awards: Last month the Web Marketing Association awarded the SMI Adviser website a 2019 WebAward for Outstanding Achievement.

In July 2018 APA was awarded a five-year, $14.2 million grant from SAMHSA to establish a Clinical Support System for Serious Mental Illness (CSS-SMI). Named SMI Adviser, APA’s clinical support system incorporates educational courses, fact sheets, toolkits, and consultation to expand the base of clinicians—including physicians, nurses, recovery specialists, peer-to-peer specialists, and others—able to provide evidence-based care to individuals with SMI. (SMI typically includes schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder.)

A major component of the program is the dissemination of information using novel technologies. The SMI Adviser App encompasses a portal for clinicians and a portal for individuals and families, both of which are rich with information to “help people with serious mental illness live their best lives.”

“The SMI Adviser App really advances the vision of SAMHSA and APA by leveraging digital technology to put cutting-edge, evidence-based information about serious mental illness literally in people’s hands,” said Tristan Gorrindo, M.D., director of education at APA and principal investigator for the CSS-SMI. “It’s intuitive and easy to navigate, and we are confident that individuals with serious mental illness and their families, as well as clinicians, will find the app a powerful and transformative resource.”

The clinician portal within the app includes a tab by which mental health professionals can request a free consultation from a member of the SMI Adviser Clinical Expert Team. Consultations are provided by SMI experts from around the country who have clinical and systems-change expertise, including four psychiatrists, two psychologists, a nurse, a peer specialist, and experts in patient and family engagement, recovery, and technology.

The app also includes an “education catalog” with more than 50 webinars and videos on a wide range of subjects—among them, the interface between SMI and the criminal justice system, using telepsychiatry for SMI, engaging the individual and family in treatment planning, strategies for successful use of clozapine, use of psychiatric advance directives, and chronic physical health management for individuals with SMI. The materials in the education catalog carry continuing medical education credits for physicians, psychologists, and nurses and are free to access.

Gorrindo said the SMI Adviser App provides easy access to existing SAMHSA resources and initiatives as well as rating scales for use in assessing patients with SMI and direct access to the “SMI Adviser Knowledge Base.” The knowledge base is a searchable online database that includes hundreds of questions, evidence-based answers, and resources on SMI and related subjects, he said.

There is also a separate version of the knowledge base available for individuals and families, which is useful for clinicians who want to direct people to a credible, reliable source for information about SMI, Gorrindo said.

APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A., said the SMI Adviser App breaks new ground in using technology to bring APA’s expertise on serious mental illness to people who need it. “I urge our members and other mental health professionals to download the app and explore this remarkable resource,” he said. “It’s a huge step in realizing the vision of the SAMHSA grant to bring customized, evidence-based information to those caring for patients with SMI using state-of-the-art technology.” ■