Administration of New Telepsychiatry Programs in Public Psychiatry and Applications in Geriatrics

Background: Psychotropic polypharmacy is particularly common which puts psychiatric patients at high risk for developing drug-drug interactions. Objective: We aimed to study potential interactions between psychotropic medications prescribed within the outpatient psychiatry setting. Method: This was an audit study, which targeted a sample of outpatient prescriptions ordered within the outpatient clinics of the main psychiatry hospital in Bahrain over 2017. We studied the degree and correlation between psychotropic drugs. Results: The total number of prescriptions in our sample was 992 (56.1% males, 43.9% females). Psychotropic polypharmacy was detected in 842 prescriptions (84.9%). Potential interactions between psychotropic drugs were observed in 550 prescriptions (56.4%). The degree of interaction was minor in 43 prescriptions (7.8%), significant in 419 prescriptions (76.2%), and serious in 88 prescriptions (16%). Schizoaffective disorder subjects were the most likely to suffer from interactions (64.6%), whereas prescriptions issued for those who had schizophrenia contained the least number of interactions (51.6%). The total number of interactions was strongly associated with polypharmacy (p < .001), and gender (p < .01), but not with age (p > .05) or diagnosis (p > .05). Conclusion: High prevalence of polypharmacy and interactions between psychotropic medications were observed in our sample, particularly of the significant grade.

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Public Psychiatry and Public Mental Health Systems

International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences ◽

10.1016/b0-08-043076-7/03687-1 ◽

2001 ◽

pp. 12567-12572

Author(s):

J.A. Talbott

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Systems ◽

Public Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Systems ◽

Public Psychiatry

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The Public Psychiatrist as a Leader

Public and Community Psychiatry ◽

10.1093/med/9780190907914.003.0007 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 127-148

Author(s):

Michael D. Ross ◽

Octavio N. Martinez

Keyword(s):

Ethical Issues ◽

Leadership Role ◽

Leadership Roles ◽

High Turnover ◽

The Public ◽

Public Psychiatry ◽

Impact Patient Care ◽

The Many ◽

Health Organization ◽

Community Psychiatrist

One of the many areas in which a community psychiatrist can impact patient care is through providing clinical and administrative leadership. The actions of leaders have consequences, both good and bad. Good leadership in a public mental health organization can be felt even among staff who rarely interact with the executive team. People understand the vision of the organization, and they feel engaged in achieving the organization’s goals and are committed to the organization. Poor leadership impacts morale and leads to high turnover and poor quality of care. This chapter discusses some of the leadership roles available to the public psychiatrist. It incorporates case scenarios that one may confront as a community psychiatrist in a leadership role. This chapter fosters consideration of individual paths to public psychiatry leadership by using several successful community psychiatrist–leaders as examples. The chapter concludes by discussing various ethical issues related to leadership that may arise.

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