Congratulations to Donna Ecklesdafer, BSN, MSN, RN, who was recently recognized by the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA) for her key role in updating its position paper on ECT.
Ecklesdafer is a psychiatric mental health nurse and the clinic manager for the Pine Rest Neuromodulation Clinic in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which provides Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) for patients who struggle with treatment-resistant depression and other serious mental illnesses. She helped establish APNA’s national Neuromodulation Task Force and currently serves as its co-chair.
In July 2021, at the direction of the APNA Board of Directors, the Task Force reviewed APNA’s Position Paper on ECT, ultimately making significant updates to it that serve to combat patient stigma against ECT by upholding it as “one of the most effective treatments for a variety of serious mental illnesses that are resistant to other treatment.”
The paper also helps position ECT as a safe and reliable procedure, with “PMH and advanced practice nurses involved in all aspects of treatment and care for patients receiving ECT.”
Ecklesdafer and the Neuromodulation Task Force are currently working on a similar position paper focused on TMS treatment and its uses in nursing care
