Quality of General Medical Care Among Patients With Serious Mental Illness: Does Colocation of Services Matter?

BACKGROUND Quality of life (QoL), physical activity (PA) level and psychological profile (PF) of patients with serious mental illness have been neglected during patient’s management OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of selected psychotropic drugs on the QoL, PA level and PF of patients with serious mental illness METHODS A cross sectional survey involving one hundred and twenty-four subject [62 Serious Mental Illness (SMI) and 62 apparently healthy subjects as control] using purposive and consecutive sampling respectively .Questionnaires for each of the constructs were administered to the participants for data collation. Analysis of the data was done using non parametric inferential statistics of Mann-Whitney U independent test and Spearman’s rho correlation with alpha level set as 0.05. RESULTS Significant difference was recorded in the QoL (p<0.05) of patient with SMI and apparently healthy psychotropic naive participants. There was a significant correlation between the QoL (p<0.05) and PF of participants with SMI. Participants with SMI had significantly lower QoL than apparently healthy psychotropic naive subject. QoL of the healthy psychotropic naive group was better than those of the participants with SMI. Female participants with SMI had higher PA than their male counterparts CONCLUSIONS Psychological profiles of male participants with SMI were lower than male healthy psychotropic naive participants. Clinicians should take precaution to monitor the QoL, PA level and PF because the constructs are relevant in evaluation of treatment outcome.

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Supported medical care: a multi-faceted approach to helping HIV/hepatitis C virus co-infected adults with serious mental illness

AIDS ◽

10.1097/01.aids.0000192092.38883.22 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 19 (Suppl 3) ◽

pp. S215-S220 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Richard W Goldberg

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Hepatitis C Virus ◽

Hepatitis C ◽

Medical Care ◽

Serious Mental Illness

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Creating a ‘reverse’ integrated primary and mental healthcare clinic for those with serious mental illness

Primary Health Care Research & Development ◽

10.1017/s1463423615000523 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 17 (05) ◽

pp. 421-427 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Alexandros Maragakis ◽

Ragavan Siddharthan ◽

Jill RachBeisel ◽

Cassandra Snipes

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Primary Care ◽

Mental Illness ◽

Quality Of Care ◽

Serious Mental Illness ◽

Mental Healthcare ◽

Policy Reforms ◽

Mental Health Settings ◽

Primary Care Practitioners

Individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) are more likely to experience preventable medical health issues, such as diabetes, hyperlipidemia, obesity, and cardiovascular disease, than the general population. To further compound this issue, these individuals are less likely to seek preventative medical care. These factors result in higher usage of expensive emergency care, lower quality of care, and lower life expectancy. This manuscript presents literature that examines the health disparities this population experiences, and barriers to accessing primary care. Through the identification of these barriers, we recommend that the field of family medicine work in collaboration with the field of mental health to implement ‘reverse’ integrated care (RIC) systems, and provide primary care services in the mental health settings. By embedding primary care practitioners in mental health settings, where individuals with SMI are more likely to present for treatment, this population may receive treatment for somatic care by experts. This not only would improve the quality of care received by patients, but would also remove the burden of managing complex somatic care from providers trained in mental health. The rationale for this RIC system, as well as training and policy reforms, are discussed.

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