In 2015, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a recommendation to screen women for depression and anxiety symptoms at least once during the perinatal period. Nevertheless, many identified women will not receive care from a behavioral health specialist. Listening Visits (LV), developed for delivery by nurses and validated in the United Kingdom, have recently been evaluated in a US-based randomized controlled trial (RCT) which recruited research participants from three home-visiting programs and an urban OB/GYN practice. RCT results indicated clinically and significant improvement in depression symptoms. To bridge the gap between evidence and practice, and based on experiences garnered at the OB/GYN site during the RCT, this development paper proposes a strategy for implementing depression screening and LV into routine clinical care in this practice setting.

The NP is instrumental in identifying which patients may be appropriate candidates for UAE, educating them about the risks and benefits of the procedure, and managing these patients before and after the procedure.