Self-referral to inpatient treatment program in a community mental health Centre in Central Norway: investigating the implementation, professionals’ experiences and costs

Background Self-referral to inpatient treatment (SRIT) is built on user participation and patient autonomy. SRIT was conducted for patients with severe mental disorders in a Norwegian Community Mental Health Centre. The aims of the present study were to describe the implementation of SRIT, explore the professionals’ experiences of SRIT and assess the costs entailed. Methods Qualitative document analysis, interviews with professionals and quantitative analysis of register data from a randomized controlled trial were used. Results SRIT seemed to be implemented as intended. According to the professionals, SRIT allowed the patients to cope, be empowered, more active and responsible. Some professionals experienced increased responsibility for patients’ medication and for assessing health and suicide risks. SRIT did not reduce hospital costs. The professionals were satisfied with nurse-led SRIT treatment. Conclusions SRIT appears to be a high-quality mental health service that empowers and activates patients. Nurse-led treatment may entail more efficient use of professional resources. In future implementations of SRIT, the efficient use of service resources and the administration of beds should be investigated. More flexible availability should be considered in line with the intentions behind SRIT, as well as ensuring adequate professional training in assessing health and suicide risk.

The global challenge of providing mental health services in poverty: the situation of Northern Haiti

When people living in poverty are asked to describe their living conditions, mental health issues quickly come to mind (grief, sadness, anger, fear, bitterness, frustration, discontent, anxiety, and emotional damage consisting of low mood and depression, fatigue, hypersensitivity, sleep difficulties and physical pain). Although the association between poverty and mental health have been widely demonstrated in the literature, care must be taken to avoid the psychiatrization of poverty. However, how can healthcare be provided to people living in poverty when basic needs are not met? This article explores the global challenge of providing mental health services in impoverished populations, using the example of the poorest country in America: Haiti. It examines the availability of services offered through the Mental Health Centre at Morne Pelé, and the necessity for innovative and comprehensive approaches to provide culturally appropriate care that meets the real needs of populations. It highlights effective measures that policy makers should implement to develop an efficient mental healthcare system based on the lessons of the Mental Health Centre at Morne Pelé.

Improving cardiometabolic health assessments and interventions at St Charles Hospital, London

AimsSt Charles is one of the largest inpatient mental health units in London with 8 wards and covers the boroughs of Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster. This project aimed was set up so that 95% of patients in St Charles Mental Health Centre would have a complete cardiometabolic health assessment by December 2020. This would include Weight, Smoking, Alcohol, Substance Use, Hypertension, Cholesterol and Diabetes assessments with necessary interventions recorded. The outcome of the intervention would improve overall physical health and life expectancy.MethodPeople with serious mental illness experience significantly worse physical health and shorter life expectancy of up to 10 to 15 years than the general population. CNWL is making Physical Health of patients in Mental Health Services a priority. Performance in this area has been challenging across the Trust because of: –Buy in from clinicians.–Staff did not feel empowered to discuss interventions with patients.–High sickness and absence as a result of COVID was found to directly correlate with reduced physical health monitoring/recording.–Lack of training in completing the SystmOne physical health templateThe following cardiometabolic risk monitoring interventions were recorded on SystemOne (electronic documentation platform) and performance reviewed using Tableau : Weight, Smoking, Alcohol, Substance Use, Hypertension, Cholesterol and Diabetes assessments with necessary interventions recorded.ResultPrior to the commencement of this project, the wards in St Charles Mental Health Centre completed physical health assessments on roughly 8% of the patients in February 2020. The QI project was implemented in June 2020. By September 2020, physical health recording across 8 wards across St Charles had increased to 89% following successful implementation of the interventions.ConclusionThe following interventions resulted in a significant improvement in physical health cardiometabolic risk monitoring at a busy inpatient mental health setting: –Monthly physical heath meetings to enable shared learning with ward doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants.–Ongoing one-to-one and group support to train staff with completing and recording physical health assessments.–Tableau Physical Health Report regularly reviewed with MDT during ward round meetings.–Physical health leads given supernumerary days to run physical health clinics on the wards.–Fortnightly Physical health monitoring meetings with the Director of Nursing and Head of Governance.

Audit report of physical health examination and baseline investigations on high dependency unit (HDU) and acute ward, Nepean Mental Health Centre, Sydney, Australia

AimsAll patients on High Dependency Unit (HDU) and Acute Ward, Mental Health Centre, Nepean Hospital, were included in a cross-sectional audit on 22nd January 2020. Out of a total of 43 patients admitted on both these wards, 88.4% had baseline blood tests done, but almost half did not have baseline ECG done and 1/3rd did not have a physical examination done. The physical examination on admission on these wards is better than in 2017 & 2018 when half and more than 1/3rd respectively did not have physical examination done.

Collective Poetry Making in the Poesis of Psychohistoriographic Cultural Therapy

Psychohistoriographic Cultural Therapy (PCT), pioneered in Jamaica in 1978, is a post-colonial model of group psychotherapy that privileges the use of the poetic to heal historical traumas. Embedded in PCT is a technique of collective poetry making. In this paper, the process is chronicled in five case studies: Madnificent Irations at the Bellevue Mental Hospital (Jamaica); Rethinking Cultural Diversity at the Cooperative Association of States for Scholarship (Georgetown University, Washington); Windows for Wavelengths at the Maudsley Hospital (London, UK); Identity and Achievement at the Afro-Caribbean Mental Health Centre (Wolverhampton, UK); and Mite de La Laine at the McGill University, (Montreal, Canada). An analysis of the PCT process and the collaborative poems created highlights how this model accelerates insight and resilience, confronts stigma, and facilitates rehabilitation and productivity.

Treatment non-adherence pattern among persons with neuropsychiatric disorders: A study from a rural community mental health centre in India

Background: Treatment gap causes significant loss to individuals, families, societies and the nation. Treatment adherence enhancement is a major challenge in psychiatric disorders. Globally, the community mental health services are obligated to minimize the treatment and adherence gap. In recent years’ retrospective studies are gaining importance to measure the trend of mental health service utilization, cost effectiveness, resources allocation and similar aspects. Aim: To explore the treatment adherence pattern of persons with neuropsychiatric illness from a rural community mental health centre. Method: Five hundred and ninety-six medical records of persons with neuropsychiatric disorders who registered for outpatient treatment between 2015 and 2017 at Sakalawara Rural mental health centre of National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore, India, were reviewed to understand their adherence pattern Results: Out of 596 patients, 68 (11.4%) were referred to tertiary care mental health and District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) services. Out of the remaining 528 patients, 29.7% were regular to mental health services over a period of 12 months and above; majority of the patients (36.2%) dropped out of their treatment after their first contact and 34.1% discontinued their follow up visits over a period of first week to 12 months. Conclusion: Community based mental health centres too face challenges of and problems related to treatment non-adherence. Persons with neuropsychiatric disorders require continuity of care through regular home visits, out-reach services and innovative methods which will enhance treatment adherence.

Prevalence, Pattern and Monitoring of Adverse Drug Reaction in Tertiary Care Psychiatry Setting- A Hospital Based Study in South Kerala

Pharmacovigilance programs usually aim to gather information on the effect of prescribed drugs in the real world rather than in groups of short-lived and carefully selected clinical trial populations. Adverse drug reactions (ADR) associated with psychiatric medications may vary among different populations. As compared with other fields, in Kerala the research related to ADRs and Prescription patterns in psychiatry is scarce. A hospital based cross sectional observational study was undertaken in the Mental Health Centre, Trivandrum. All psychiatric drugs were closely monitor for adverse drug reaction irrespective of their psychiatric diagnosis. CDSCO Suspected adverse drug reaction reporting form was used for the documentation of adverse drug reaction and the causality assessment was done with naranjo scale .The severity of ADR was assessed using Hartwing scale and Preventability assessment using Modified schumock. In this study it was found the highest incident of ADR was reported with risperidone (24%) followed by valproate (20.1%), clozapine (17%) etc. The patient in psychiatry cant identify the adverse effect due to the cognitive impairment. So special attention is necessary for psychiatric patient to find out the incidence of adverse drug reaction and provide the proper management to them.

A pilot study on the effectiveness of low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy (LiCBT) for common mental disorders in Hong Kong

Background: To cope with the rising demand for psychological treatment, evidence-based low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy (LiCBT) delivered by trained para-professionals was introduced internationally. Aims: This pilot study aimed at examining the effectiveness of LiCBT in Hong Kong. Method: This study was of an uncontrolled pre- and post-treatment design, testing LiCBT at a local community mental health centre in Hong Kong. Two hundred and eighty-five Chinese adult help-seekers to the centre attended two or more sessions of LiCBT delivered by trained para-professionals. These participants also rated their depression and anxiety on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Generalised Anxiety Disorder Scale-7 (GAD-7), respectively, at pre- and post-treatment. Results: Comparison of the pre- and post-treatment PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores of 285 participants indicated significant improvements in depression and anxiety with large effect sizes (depression: d = 0.87; anxiety: d = 0.95). For those participants reaching the clinical level of either depression and/or anxiety at pre-treatment (n = 229, 80.4%), they reported even larger effect sizes (depression: d = 1.00; anxiety: d = 1.15). The recovery rate was 55.9% with a reliable improvement rate of 63.9%. An average of 5.6 sessions was offered to the participants with each session spanning a mean of 42 minutes. The baseline clinical conditions and participants’ educational level were predictive of post-treatment recovery. Conclusions: The results supported the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of LiCBT for depression and anxiety at a Hong Kong community mental health centre. The effect sizes and the recovery and reliable improvement rates achieved were comparable to those reported from countries such as the UK and Australia.