scholarly journals How Has The Mental Health Of Junior Staff Been Negatively Affected By the Current COVID-19 Climate?

2021 ◽  
pp. 100143
Author(s):  
Rory Chambers ◽  
Rebecca Pigot ◽  
Mr Atul Kusanale ◽  
Mr Peter A. Brennan
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Junior Staff

Criminal and financial penalties for clinicians in the ACT Mental Health Act weigh more heavily on senior doctors

2021 ◽  
pp. 103985622110250
Author(s):  
Dilini Hemachandra ◽  
Denise Riordan ◽  
Azra Sabir ◽  
Philip Keightley
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health System ◽  
Mental Health System ◽  
Public Mental Health ◽  
Information Provision ◽  
Public Mental Health System ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
Junior Staff ◽  
Public Psychiatry ◽  
Initial Survey

Objective: We sought to assess the attitudes of ACT public psychiatry doctors towards the financial and criminal penalties in the ACT Mental Health Act 2015. Method: Baseline attitude was surveyed with an 11-item 5-point Likert scale. Education was then provided about the offences outlined in the Act and the associated penalties. The same initial survey was then repeated. Primary outcomes were changes in attitude pre- and post- information, and secondarily data was explored for differences related to gender and seniority. Results Forty-nine percent of 89 eligible public mental health system doctors responded. The majority of the survey respondents were female (59%). Provision of information resulted in a significant improvement in understanding of liabilities (2.80 (SD 1.14) versus 3.58 (SD 0.93), t(39) = 4.06, p < 0.001). Gender had no significant impact on scores. Senior staff were less legally secure and less satisfied with the Mental Health Act pre-information being provided. With regards to notification penalties, with education, junior staff became more secure and seniors less so. Conclusions: Information provision improves understanding of the penalties under the Mental Health Act 2015. Having a senior role predicts lower satisfaction with the penalties in the Act.

scholarly journals Differences in Coping Strategies and Help-Seeking Behaviours among Australian Junior and Senior Doctors during the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Pascoe ◽  
Eldho Paul ◽  
Douglas Johnson ◽  
Mark Putland ◽  
Karen Willis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Medical Staff ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Targeted Interventions ◽  
Hospital Medical ◽  
Junior Staff ◽  
Hospital Medical Staff

Background: Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital medical staff (HMS) have faced significant personal, workplace, and financial disruption. Many have experienced psychosocial burden, exceeding already concerning baseline levels. This study examines the types and predictors of coping strategies and help-seeking behaviours utilised by Australian junior and senior HMS during the first year of the pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey of Australian frontline healthcare workers was conducted between 27th August and 23rd October 2020. Data collected included demographics, personal and workplace disruptions, self-reported and validated mental health symptoms, coping strategies, and help-seeking. Results: The 9518 participants included 1966 hospital medical staff (62.1% senior, 37.9% junior). Both groups experienced a high burden of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and burnout. Coping strategies varied by seniority, with maintaining exercise the most common strategy for both groups. Adverse mental health was associated with increased alcohol consumption. Engagement with professional support, although more frequent among junior staff, was uncommon in both groups. Conclusions: Junior and senior staff utilised different coping and help-seeking behaviours. Despite recognition of symptoms, very few HMS engaged formal support. The varied predictors of coping and help-seeking identified may inform targeted interventions to support these cohorts in current and future crises.

scholarly journals A Formative Quality Improvement Implementation Study To Improve Care Transitions Through Information Capture Upon Admission To An Acute Mental Health Ward

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha Tyler ◽  
Nicola Wright ◽  
Kyriakos Gregoriou ◽  
Justin Waring
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Quality Improvement ◽  
Discharge Planning ◽  
Care Pathway ◽  
Care Transitions ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Implementation Study ◽  
Framework Analysis ◽  
Essential Information ◽  
Junior Staff

Abstract Background: Many interventions have been developed that aim to improve the transition from ward to community at the time of discharge, with varying success. Guidelines suggest that discharge planning should begin at admission, but in reality this is ideal rather than standard practice. This quality improvement aims to develop a novel intervention that improves mental health care transitions by providing a framework for capturing relevant information at admission that facilitates and accelerates discharge. Methods: A formative implementation study to co-design, implement and evaluate a novel tool that improves information capture upon admission to acute mental health wards within a single English National Health Service (NHS) trust. Two cycles of PDSA were completed which included two workshops based on the principles of co-design. During implementation the tool was piloted on three wards. Ethnographic observations (145 hours) and interviews (45) were used to evaluate the implementation of the tool across the three wards. The consolidated framework for implementation research was used to analyse and categorise the qualitative data generated. Results: The tool developed considerably as the process evolved. The finished product is a list of 10 information categories that should be captured from external agencies upon admission to facilitate discharge planning. The most reported advantages of the tool were: 1) facilitating confidence in junior staff to legitimately question the suitability of a patient for an acute ward 2) collecting and storing essential information in a single accessible place that can be used throughout the care pathway and 3) collecting information from the services/agencies that patients will eventually be discharged to. The consolidated framework analysis highlighted multiple barriers to implementation from both an outer and inner setting perspective. Conclusions: The results suggest that improving the quality of information captured upon admission has the potential to facilitate and accelerate discharge. The novel tool provides a framework for capturing this information that can be incorporated into existing information systems.

scholarly journals Improving mental health care transitions through information capture during admission to inpatient mental health services: a quality improvement study

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha Tyler ◽  
Nicola Wright ◽  
Kyriakos Gregoriou ◽  
Justin Waring
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Quality Improvement ◽  
Discharge Planning ◽  
Care Pathway ◽  
Care Transitions ◽  
Distributed Teams ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Essential Information ◽  
Junior Staff ◽  
Health Care Transitions

Abstract Background Many interventions aim to improve the transition from ward to community at the time of discharge, with varying success. Guidelines suggest that discharge planning should begin at admission, but in reality this is ideal rather than standard practice. We aimed to develop a novel information capture tool during admission that facilitates and accelerates discharge. Methods A quality improvement study to develop, implement and evaluate a novel tool that improves information capture upon admission to acute mental health wards within a single English National Health Service (NHS) trust. We developed the tool by synthesising existing evidence and working with multi-agency and multi-disciplinary professionals in two co-design workshops. During implementation the tool was piloted on three wards. Ethnographic observations (145 h) and interviews (45) were used to evaluate the implementation of the tool across the three wards. Thematic synthesis was used to consolidate the findings. Results The tool developed considerably as the process evolved. The finished product is a list of 10 information categories that should be captured from external agencies upon admission to hospital to facilitate discharge planning to community settings. Reported advantages of the tool were: (1) facilitating confidence in junior staff to legitimately question the suitability of a patient for an acute ward (2) collecting and storing essential information in a single accessible place that can be used throughout the care pathway and (3) collecting information from the services/agencies to which patients will eventually be discharged. Conclusions Improving the quality of information at admission has the potential to facilitate and accelerate discharge. The novel tool provides a framework for capturing this information that can be incorporated into existing information systems. However, the introduction of the tool exacerbated complex, fragile distributed team dynamics, highlighting the importance of sociocultural context in information flow transitional interventions within distributed teams.

scholarly journals Differences in Coping Strategies and Help-Seeking Behaviours among Australian Junior and Senior Doctors during the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (24) ◽  
pp. 13275
Author(s):  
Amy Pascoe ◽  
Eldho Paul ◽  
Douglas Johnson ◽  
Mark Putland ◽  
Karen Willis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Medical Staff ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Targeted Interventions ◽  
Hospital Medical ◽  
Junior Staff ◽  
Hospital Medical Staff

Background: Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital medical staff (HMS) have faced significant personal, workplace, and financial disruption. Many have experienced psychosocial burden, exceeding already concerning baseline levels. This study examines the types and predictors of coping strategies and help-seeking behaviours utilised by Australian junior and senior HMS during the first year of the pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey of Australian frontline healthcare workers was conducted between 27 August and 23 October 2020. Data collected included demographics, personal and workplace disruptions, self-reported and validated mental health symptoms, coping strategies, and help-seeking. Results: The 9518 participants included 1966 hospital medical staff (62.1% senior, 37.9% junior). Both groups experienced a high burden of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and burnout. Coping strategies varied by seniority, with maintaining exercise the most common strategy for both groups. Adverse mental health was associated with increased alcohol consumption. Engagement with professional support, although more frequent among junior staff, was uncommon in both groups. Conclusions: Junior and senior staff utilised different coping and help-seeking behaviours. Despite recognition of symptoms, very few HMS engaged formal support. The varied predictors of coping and help-seeking identified may inform targeted interventions to support these cohorts in current and future crises.

scholarly journals A formative quality improvement implementation study to improve care transitions through information capture upon admission to an acute mental health ward

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha Tyler ◽  
Nicola Wright ◽  
Kyriakos Gregoriou ◽  
Justin Waring
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Quality Improvement ◽  
Discharge Planning ◽  
Care Pathway ◽  
Care Transitions ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Implementation Study ◽  
Framework Analysis ◽  
Essential Information ◽  
Junior Staff

Abstract Background: Many interventions have been developed that aim to improve the transition from ward to community at the time of discharge, with varying success. Guidelines suggest that discharge planning should begin at admission, but in reality this is ideal rather than standard practice. This quality improvement aims to develop a novel intervention that improves mental health care transitions by providing a framework for capturing relevant information at admission that facilitates and accelerates discharge. Methods: A formative implementation study to co-design, implement and evaluate a novel tool that improves information capture upon admission to acute mental health wards within a single English National Health Service (NHS) trust. Two cycles of PDSA were completed which included two workshops based on the principles of co-design. During implementation the tool was piloted on three wards. Ethnographic observations (145 hours) and interviews (45) were used to evaluate the implementation of the tool across the three wards. The consolidated framework for implementation research was used to analyse and categorise the qualitative data generated. Results: The tool developed considerably as the process evolved. The finished product is a list of 10 information categories that should be captured from external agencies upon admission to facilitate discharge planning. The most reported advantages of the tool were: 1) facilitating confidence in junior staff to legitimately question the suitability of a patient for an acute ward 2) collecting and storing essential information in a single accessible place that can be used throughout the care pathway and 3) collecting information from the services/agencies that patients will eventually be discharged to. The consolidated framework analysis highlighted multiple barriers to implementation from both an outer and inner setting perspective. Conclusions: The results suggest that improving the quality of information captured upon admission has the potential to facilitate and accelerate discharge. The novel tool provides a framework for capturing this information that can be incorporated into existing information systems.

Therapy and prevention for mental health: What if mental diseases are mostly not brain disorders?

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
John P. A. Ioannidis
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Disease ◽  
Brain Disorders ◽  
Social Stressors ◽  
Labor Education ◽  
Mental Diseases ◽  
Long Term Follow Up ◽  
Political Decisions

AbstractNeurobiology-based interventions for mental diseases and searches for useful biomarkers of treatment response have largely failed. Clinical trials should assess interventions related to environmental and social stressors, with long-term follow-up; social rather than biological endpoints; personalized outcomes; and suitable cluster, adaptive, and n-of-1 designs. Labor, education, financial, and other social/political decisions should be evaluated for their impacts on mental disease.

A Tribute to the Late William J. Curran

1996 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-275
Author(s):  
O. Lawrence ◽  
J.D. Gostin
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Harvard University ◽  
Legal Medicine ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
International Institute ◽  
University Professor

In the summer of 1979, a group of experts on law, medicine, and ethics assembled in Siracusa, Sicily, under the auspices of the International Commission of Jurists and the International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Science, to draft guidelines on the rights of persons with mental illness. Sitting across the table from me was a quiet, proud man of distinctive intelligence, William J. Curran, Frances Glessner Lee Professor of Legal Medicine at Harvard University. Professor Curran was one of the principal drafters of those guidelines. Many years later in 1991, after several subsequent re-drafts by United Nations (U.N.) Rapporteur Erica-Irene Daes, the text was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly as the Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and for the Improvement of Mental Health Care. This was the kind of remarkable achievement in the field of law and medicine that Professor Curran repeated throughout his distinguished career.

Prevalence of Self-Reported Depression Symptoms and Perceived Anxiety Among Community-Dwelling U.S. Adults Reporting Tinnitus

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 959-970
Author(s):  
Kelly M. Reavis ◽  
James A. Henry ◽  
Lynn M. Marshall ◽  
Kathleen F. Carlson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Fold Increase ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Community Based Interventions ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Health Distress ◽  
Validated Questionnaire ◽  
Mental Health Distress

Purpose The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between tinnitus and self-reported mental health distress, namely, depression symptoms and perceived anxiety, in adults who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examinations Survey between 2009 and 2012. A secondary aim was to determine if a history of serving in the military modified the associations between tinnitus and mental health distress. Method This was a cross-sectional study design of a national data set that included 5,550 U.S. community-dwelling adults ages 20 years and older, 12.7% of whom were military Veterans. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the association between tinnitus and mental health distress. All measures were based on self-report. Tinnitus and perceived anxiety were each assessed using a single question. Depression symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire, a validated questionnaire. Multivariable regression models were adjusted for key demographic and health factors, including self-reported hearing ability. Results Prevalence of tinnitus was 15%. Compared to adults without tinnitus, adults with tinnitus had a 1.8-fold increase in depression symptoms and a 1.5-fold increase in perceived anxiety after adjusting for potential confounders. Military Veteran status did not modify these observed associations. Conclusions Findings revealed an association between tinnitus and both depression symptoms and perceived anxiety, independent of potential confounders, among both Veterans and non-Veterans. These results suggest, on a population level, that individuals with tinnitus have a greater burden of perceived mental health distress and may benefit from interdisciplinary health care, self-help, and community-based interventions. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12568475

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