Psychiatry in the Midst of the Pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 24-34
Author(s):  
Gardenia AlSaffar ◽  
Ebtihaj Al-Aali
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Present Situation ◽  
Psychiatric Services ◽  
Mental Health Patients ◽  
The Impact

The era of COVID-19 has initiated dramatic and unexpected changes related to all aspects of life. The impact of these changes is unforeseeable. Health services have encountered many challenges, which one country cannot deal with alone. The contagion of the disease requires changes in all walks of life, specifically health services. Psychiatric services have seen an increased demand from mental health patients and many people alike. This is due to unrest, anxiety, stressful, and the ambiguous characteristics of the present situation. This chapter presents reflections of the first author, the psychiatrist, on the major stakeholders for health systems at the present situation. These stakeholders are regulations, patients, pharmacies, society and community, and psychiatrists themselves. Despite all efforts to deal with the impacts of COVID-19, the need for transforming health systems in general and psychiatry in specific still persists. One of the major conclusions is to develop programs enabling psychiatrists and physicians to deal with their own distress.

scholarly journals The impact of COVID-19 on health systems, mental health and the potential for nursing

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
T. Frawley ◽  
F. van Gelderen ◽  
S. Somanadhan ◽  
K. Coveney ◽  
A. Phelan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Moral Distress ◽  
Community Mental Health Services ◽  
Mental Health Nursing ◽  
Health Nursing ◽  
The Impact

This paper offers a perspective on nursing and lived experience responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. It charts health systems and mental health impacts with a particular focus on children and adolescents, older people and people availing of mental health services. Issues of moral distress and the nursing reaction are considered alongside psychological and social concerns which continue to rapidly evolve. The perspective of a person attending adult community mental health services and the experience of engaging with a mental health service remotely is provided. Matters of note for acute inpatient mental health nursing are highlighted and informed by the lived experience of a mental health nurse. The need for integrated health systems responses across nursing disciplines and the wider interdisciplinary team is elucidated.

scholarly journals Implementing a digital health model of care in Australian youth mental health services: protocol for impact evaluation

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Piper ◽  
Tracey A. Davenport ◽  
Haley LaMonica ◽  
Antonia Ottavio ◽  
Frank Iorfino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Impact Evaluation ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Youth Mental Health ◽  
Model Of Care ◽  
Health Service Provision ◽  
Industrial Grade ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background The World Economic Forum has recently highlighted substantial problems in mental health service provision and called for the rapid deployment of smarter, digitally-enhanced health services as a means to facilitate effective care coordination and address issues of demand. In mental health, the biggest enabler of digital solutions is the implementation of an effective model of care that is facilitated by integrated health information technologies (HITs); the latter ensuring the solution is easily accessible, scalable and sustainable. The University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre (BMC) has developed an innovative digital health solution – delivered through the Youth Mental Health and Technology Program – which incorporates two components: 1) a highly personalised and measurement-based (data-driven) model of youth mental health care; and 2) an industrial grade HIT registered on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods. This paper describes a research protocol to evaluate the impact of implementing the BMC’s digital health solution into youth mental health services (i.e. headspace - a highly accessible, youth-friendly integrated service that responds to the mental health, physical health, alcohol or other substance use, and vocational concerns of young people aged 12 to 25 years) within urban and regional areas of Australia. Methods The digital health solution will be implemented into participating headspace centres using a naturalistic research design. Quantitative and qualitative data will be collected from headspace health professionals, service managers and administrators, as well as from lead agency and local Primary Health Network (PHN) staff, via service audits, Implementation Officer logs, online surveys, and semi-structured interviews, at baseline and then three-monthly intervals over the course of 12 months. Discussion At the time of publication, six headspace centres had been recruited to this study and had commenced implementation and impact evaluation. The first results are expected to be submitted for publication in 2021. This study will focus on the impact of implementing a digital health solution at both a service and staff level, and will evaluate digital readiness of service and staff adoption; quality, usability and acceptability of the solution by staff; staff self-reported clinical competency; overall impact on headspace centres as well as their lead agencies and local PHNs; and social return on investment.

scholarly journals Mental Illness Inequalities by Multimorbidity, Use of Health Resources and Socio-Economic Status in an Aging Society

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 458
Author(s):  
Manuel García-Goñi ◽  
Alexandrina P. Stoyanova ◽  
Roberto Nuño-Solinís
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Population Aging ◽  
Basque Country ◽  
International Comparisons ◽  
Health Resources ◽  
The Poor

Background: Mental illness, multi-morbidity, and socio-economic inequalities are some of the main challenges for the public health system nowadays, and are further aggravated by the process of population aging. Therefore, it is widely accepted that health systems need to focus their strategies for confronting such concerns. With guaranteed access to health care services under universal coverage in many health systems, it is expected that all services be provided equally to patients with the same level of need. Methods: In this paper, we explore the existence of inequalities in the access to services of patients with mental illness taking into account whether they are multimorbid patients, their socioeconomic status, and their age. We take advantage of a one-year (2010–2011) database on individual healthcare utilization and expenditures for the total population (N = 2,262,698) of the Basque Country. Results: More comorbidity leads to greater inequality in prevalence, being the poor sicker, although with age, this inequality decreases. All health services are more oriented towards greater utilization of the poor and sicker, particularly in the case of visits to specialists and emergency care. Conclusions: Mental health inequalities in prevalence have been identified as being disproportionally concentrated in the least affluent areas of the Basque Country. However, inequalities in the utilization of publicly-provided health services present a pro-poor orientation. As this region has adopted a system-wide transformation towards integrated care, its mental health delivery model offers excellent potential for international comparisons and benchlearning.

scholarly journals Understanding and evaluating new models of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in South-East England: a study protocol for an observational mixed-methods study

BMJ Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. e024230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Rocks ◽  
Melissa Stepney ◽  
Margaret Glogowska ◽  
Mina Fazel ◽  
Apostolos Tsiachristas
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Adolescent Mental Health ◽  
Child And Adolescent ◽  
Resource Utilisation ◽  
South East England ◽  
The Impact

IntroductionIncreased demand for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), alongside concerns that services should be better commissioned to meet the needs of the most vulnerable, has contributed to a requirement to transform services to improve accessibility, quality of care and health outcomes. Following the submission of government-mandated transformation plans for CAMHS, services in England are changing in how, where and by whom they are delivered. This protocol describes the research methods to be applied to understand CAMHS transformations and evaluate the impact on the use of mental health services, patient care, satisfaction, health outcomes and health resource utilisation costs.Methods and analysisA mixed-methods approach will be taken in an observational retrospective study of CAMHS provided by a large National Health Service (NHS) mental health trust in South-East England (Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust). Quantitative research will include descriptive analysis of routinely collected data, with difference-in-differences analysis supplemented with propensity score matching performed to assess the impact of CAMHS transformations from 2015 onwards. An economic evaluation will be conducted from a healthcare perspective to provide commissioners with indications of value for money. Qualitative research will include observations of services and interviews with key stakeholders including CAMHS staff, service users and guardians, to help identify mechanisms leading to changes in service delivery, as well as barriers and enabling factors in this phase of transformation.Ethics and disseminationThis project has been registered with NHS Oxford Health Foundation Trust as a service evaluation. Informed consent will be sought from all stakeholders partaking in interviews according to good clinical practice. A local data sharing protocol will govern the transfer of quantitative data. Study findings will be published in professional journals for NHS managers and peer-reviewed scientific journals. They will be discussed in seminars targeting CAMHS providers, managers and commissioners and presented at scientific conferences.

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