PRN Sedation-patterns of prescribing and administration in a child and adolescent mental health inpatient service

Objective: To identify utilisation rates of prn (pro re nata) sedation in children and adolescents receiving inpatient psychiatric treatment, and to compare correlates of prn prescribing and administration. Method A retrospective chart review examined 122 medical charts from a child and youth mental health inpatient service. Results 71.3% of patients were prescribed prn sedation and 50.8% were administered prn sedation. Patients received an average of 8.0 doses of prn sedation, with 9.8% receiving 10 or more doses. Chlorpromazine and diazepam were the most commonly utilised agents. Prescribing of prn sedation was only related to use of regular medications (p < 0.01), and non-parent carers (p < 0.01). In contrast, administration of prn sedation was associated with multiple diagnoses (p < 0.01), pervasive development disorder (p < 0.01), mental retardation (p < 0.01) ADHD (p < 0.01), longer hospital admission (p < 0.01), use of atypical antipsychotics (p < 0.01) and polypharmacy (p < 0.01). Conclusions Despite lack of data to inform practice, prn sedation is widely utilised, especially in complex patients. Future research in this area needs to incorporate nurses and examine whether patients benefit from prn sedation, which drugs and dosing patterns optimise safety and efficacy, and what is the role of prn sedation in the context of other medication.

Structural ambiguity of the Chinese version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale in patients with coronary heart disease

Background The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) is a widely used screening tool designed as a case detector for clinically relevant anxiety and depression. Recent studies of the HADS in coronary heart disease (CHD) patients in European countries suggest it comprises three, rather than two, underlying sub-scale dimensions. The factor structure of the Chinese version of the HADS was evaluated in patients with CHD in mainland China. Methods Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted on self-report HADS forms from 154 Chinese CHD patients. Results Little difference was observed in model fit between best performing three-factor and two-factor models. Conclusion The current observations are inconsistent with recent studies highlighting a dominant underlying tri-dimensional structure to the HADS in CHD patients. The Chinese version of the HADS may perform differently to European language versions of the instrument in patients with CHD.

The National Mental Health Strategy and Geographical Access to Mental Health Services: Some empirical results

In 1992 the Australian Government adopted the National Mental Health Strategy in an attempt to improve the provision of mental health services. A component was to improve geographical access to hospital-based mental health services. This paper is concerned with determining if this objective has been achieved. Time-series data on patients (at a regional level) with mental illness in the State of Queensland are available for the years from 1968-69 to 2002-03. A change in regional classification by the Australian Bureau of Statistics complicates the analysis by precluding certain empirical tests such as converging utilisation rates by region. To overcome this problem, it was decided to apply concepts of concentration and equality that are commonly employed in industrial economics to the regional data. The empirical results show no evidence of improving regional access following the National Mental Health Strategy: in fact the statistical results show the opposite, i.e. declining regional access.

Psychotropic medication utilization in a child and adolescent mental health service

Objectives: This study aimed to identify rates and correlates of psychotropic drug utilization in children and adolescents in inpatient and outpatient settings. Methods: A retrospective chart review examined 122 inpatient and 126 outpatient charts from a metropolitan child and youth mental health service in Brisbane, Australia. Results: Inpatients received more psychotropic medication than outpatients (71% vs. 25%; p < 0.01). Patients receiving medication were older, had longer hospital admissions, and more complex presentations, including history of abuse or suicide attempts and more diagnoses (all p < 0.01). Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were the most frequently used drug class (44% inpatients; 14% outpatients), primarily indicated for mood disorders (31%). SSRIs and newer antidepressants (ADs) were used more frequently in patients with a high suicide risk (p < 0.01). Atypical antipsychotics (APs) were also used (inpatients 23%; outpatients 3%), primarily for behavioral disturbances. Half of those receiving medication (51%) received polypharmacy (> 1 concurrent drug), with up to four drugs used at one time. Rates of polypharmacy were highest among patients receiving antipsychotics. Conclusions: Use of psychotropic medication is frequent in this population. Future research should initially focus on inpatients and intensive treatment settings and examine both safety and efficacy of interventions for depression in young people, atypical antipsychotics for behavioral disturbances, and polypharmacy.

Medication errors in mental healthcare:a systematic review

Methods: It has been estimated that medication error harms 1-2% of patients admitted to general hospitals. There has been no previous systematic review of the incidence, cause or type of medication error in mental healthcare services. Methods: A systematic literature search for studies that examined the incidence or cause of medication error in one or more stage(s) of the medication-management process in the setting of a community or hospital-based mental healthcare service was undertaken. The results in the context of the design of the study and the denominator used were examined. Results: All studies examined medication management processes, as opposed to outcomes. The reported rate of error was highest in studies that retrospectively examined drug charts, intermediate in those that relied on reporting by pharmacists to identify error and lowest in those that relied on organisational incident reporting systems. Only a few of the errors identified by the studies caused actual harm, mostly because they were detected and remedial action was taken before the patient received the drug. The focus of the research was on inpatients and prescriptions dispensed by mental health pharmacists. Conclusion: Research about medication error in mental healthcare is limited. In particular, very little is known about the incidence of error in non-hospital settings or about the harm caused by it. Evidence is available from other sources that a substantial number of adverse drug events are caused by psychotropic drugs. Some of these are preventable and might probably, therefore, be due to medication error. On the basis of this and features of the organisation of mental healthcare that might predispose to medication error, priorities for future research are suggested.

Psychotic symptoms are associated with physical health problems independently of a mental disorder diagnosis:results from the WHO World Health Survey

This study explored whether physical health problems are related to psychotic symptoms independently of a mental disorder diagnosis. A total of 224,254 subjects recruited for the World Health Organization World Health Survey were subdivided into those with both a lifetime diagnosis of psychosis and at least one psychotic symptom in the 12 months prior to the evaluation, those with at least one psychotic symptom in the past 12 months but no lifetime diagnosis of psychosis, and those without psychotic symptoms in the past 12 months and without a lifetime diagnosis of psychosis. The three groups were compared for the presence of medical conditions, health problems, and access to health care. Medical conditions and health problems (angina, asthma, arthritis, tuberculosis, vision or hearing problems, mouth/teeth problems, alcohol consumption, smoking, and accidents), medication consumption, and hospital admissions (but not regular health care visits) were more frequent in individuals with psychotic symptoms but no psychosis diagnosis, compared to those with no symptoms and no diagnosis. The number of medical conditions increased with the number of psychotic symptoms. Given the sample analyzed, this trend seems to be independent from the socio-economic development of the country or the specific health care system.

Perfis e práticas dos profissionais de saúde mental em dois hospitais psiquiátricos de grande porte

In the Brazilian network of psychosocial care, health professionals are important actors in the process of transformation of mental health public policies among various services. In the reality of psychiatric hospitals, one should understand the need to expand the debate about the current context of practices developed. This study aimed at analyzing the process of psychiatric reform and the mental health policy in the State of Rio Grande do Norte (RN) from the profiles and practices of higher-level professionals in two psychiatric hospitals. This is a cross-sectional and descriptive research, with quantitative and qualitative data, conducted in two psychiatric hospitals of RN. The universe of the target population was 95 professionals, taking into account the margin of error of 8%, non-response rate and the inclusion criteria: holding effective link with the institution by means of approval in public examination for, at least, six months, being state or municipal servant; having a minimum weekly workload of 20 hours in service; participating in care and/or activities with patients and families in a direct way. The final sample consisted of 60 professionals. The tool for data collection was a questionnaire with closed and semi-open questions about socioeconomic profile, and mental health policies, practices and training. Quantitative data were tabulated in the statistical software SPSS, and simple and bivariate statistics, chi-square type, was used for analysis by adopting the significance level with the value p<0,05. In order to analyze data, the content analysis of Bardin was used. The qualitative findings obtained with the semi-open questions in Analyse Lexicale par Context d'un Ensemble de Segments de Texte (ALCESTE) were grouped into four thematic axes: Professional action in mental health; Mental health training; Scenarios of psychiatric reform and psychiatric hospitals; Mental health policies and practices: challenges for professionals in hospitals. The profile of professionals has revealed the majority of women (89,7%), nurses (36,7%), aged 50-59 years (42,9%), weekly workload of 40 hours (52,4% ), time of completion of graduation from six to 15 years (57%), and 21,4% reported to have specialization in mental health. Regarding the practices developed in individual care, it was found an association between those who do not build or partially conducts the therapeutic project and those who conduct care related to observation and annotation. In family care, it was obtained care consultation during crisis; and, in group care, recreational activities. In the analysis of thematic axes, it was noted that, despite changes identified in the profiles and practices of higher-level professionals in care services for mental health, with the implementation of new public policies for this field, the findings indicate the confluence of asymmetries and divergences in the actions of the teams in psychiatric hospitals, difficulties in managing services, frequent readmissions, reduced quantitative of available services and equipment, high demand of users, disarticulation of the network of psychosocial care, and the very shortage of skilled human resources to compose these services. Accordingly, the evidenced scenarios partially outline the current political and ideological mismatch of the national process of psychiatric reform that denies the role of care actions conducted within hospitals, although it has not gone far enough with the creation of new services that justify the total extinction of this institution

Matriciamento em saúde mental: atuação de núcleos de apoio à saúde da família

In the context of break with psychiatric hospitals, the Brazilian Psychiatric Reform is a historical process of reformulation of knowledge and mental health practices. In this way, the Centers of Support for Family Health (NASF) have been acting in the supply of matrix support in mental health. So, the present research aims to analyze the actions which the NASF is taking for the matrix support in mental health in the city of Natal/RN. This is a kind of research descriptive, exploratory and qualitative. The data collection, was made by a direct observation of the professional pratices and semi-structured interviews with health professionals NASF's. The Data were analyzed according to thematic analysis technique, with the support of the content analysis method, which is a way to investigate clusters of meanings which make up the communication of the investigated object. Three analytical categories were organized by this method, whose titles were inspired in two theories in the health field called “Health to Paidéia” and “Expanded Clinic”. The name of the categories are: 1. “Mental illness in brackets: working dimensions of the Centers of Support for Family Health interfaces with the concrete subject”, which is about the work process of NASF; 2. “Freedom and engagement in the arrangement of matrix support in mental health”, which explore the matrix support limitations in mental health in Natal/RN from the professionals interviewed at the NASF’s; 3. “Between the desire and interest: influence of expert orientation in mental health in Psychosocial Care Network” (RAPS), which is related to matrix support in mental health, as an organizational arrangement responsible to ensure intersectoral and comprehensive care, strategies inside of context of the constitution of RAPS. We can extract and say that the actions of NASF teams in the brazilian city called Natal/RN, still not part of a structured link with health care networks, as happens with the absence of discussions and lack of professionals in the matrix support. In addition, there is a difficulty to do an specialized orientation in mental health because of the lack of human resources in this area and of the insufficient number of the replacement services for psychiatric hospital pratices, bringing up the discussion about the consolidation and expansion of RAPS in fact investigated.

Articulação entre saúde mental infanto-juvenil e atenção básica em Natal-RN: limites e possibilidades

In the case of Brazilian Psychiatric Reformation, mental health juvenile reveals itself as a great challenge, with major gaps in terms of needs, services and actions on mental illness in children and adolescents. This research is a qualitative study of descriptive and exploratory, having to analyze the actions and practices of mental health juvenile articulated between the Psychosocial Care Center juvenile (Caps i) and the basic care in Natal-RN, and specific, identify the limits and possibilities for an important precedent of the care network. After submission to the Research Ethics Committee (CEP) of the University Hospital Onofre Lopes (HUOL) of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) obtained approval contained in opinion number 777.067 / 2014. For the data collection, it was initially carried out a documentary research in the Municipal Health Department of Christmas about the phenomenon under study, and subsequently, applied semi-structured interviews with the subjects of the research, which were workers Caps i of Natal-RN. The analysis was woven as the thematic analysis technique, understood within the method of content analysis. The results and discussions were organized by categories and subcategories, namely: CATEGORY 1: Limits and weaknesses in the linkage between the Caps i and basic care, with the subcategories: 1.1 Lack of specialized services and devices articulators in network, 1.2 The diversity of situations in the demand juvenile assisted; CATEGORY 2: possibilities for an effective network, with the subcategory: 2.1 Intersectoral collaboration as a strategy for solving attention. The analysis revealed that the integration and coordination of mental health services juvenile and primary care in the city of Natal-RN, has incipient initiatives and/or inadequate for the resolvability intersectoral, where the devices of attention to health involved cannot establish bonds effective and long-lasting in the perspective of co-responsibility and sharing of care. On the other hand, it appears that the existing shares and practiced, configure an exercise in approximation to the dialog between mental health juvenile and basic care. It is highlighted that the shared care and the establishment of intersectoral collaboration within and outside of the health sector is possibility of facilitating the necessary dialog between the services and professionals involved, thus, enabling a better prospect of resolvability of the Network of Psychosocial Care for the youth in reality being investigated.

Outpatient Mental Health Services in Mozambique: Use and Treatments.

To describe current outpatient mental health service use and treatments in Mozambique, the authors reviewed registry entries for 2,071 outpatient psychiatric visits at the Beira Central Hospital in Sofala Province from January 2012 to September 2014. Service use was most common for schizophrenia, followed by epilepsy, delirium, and organic behavioral disorders. Only 3% of consultations for schizophrenia were first-visit patients. Treatment seeking among women was more likely for mood and neurotic disorders and less likely for substance use disorders and epilepsy. First-generation antipsychotics, most often paired with promethazine, dominated treatment regimens. Evidence-based reforms are needed to improve identification of mood disorders and broaden care beyond severe mental disorders.

Psychodrama Reflections form the clinic practice in a Psychiatric Day Hospital

In this article I introduce the therapeutic potential that the psychodrama gives to the treatment of the patients with severe mental disorder. I propose the specific characteristics that, from the clinic practice in a Psychiatric Day Hospital of Madrid, have specially revealed fertile to the persons that participate in and also to the community framing and its assembly in the framework of a transdisciplinary work.

Ajustamento Mental ao Cancro do Pulmão: o papel da autocompaixão e do suporte social

A presente investigação pretendeu ver cumpridos três dos principais objetivos: 1) Estudar as variáveis sociodemográficas e clínicas que caracterizam os doentes com cancro do pulmão; 2) Explorar a relação entre o ajustamento mental ao cancro do pulmão, a autocompaixão, o suporte social e os estados emocionais negativos dos doentes; 3) Examinar o impacto da autocompaixão e do suporte social em relação ao ajustamento mental e aos estados emocionais negativos em doentes com cancro do pulmão. A amostra é constituída por 55 indivíduos (38 homens e 17 mulheres) diagnosticados com cancro do pulmão e com idades compreendidas entre os 44 e os 87 anos, acompanhados medicamente no Hospital de Dia de Oncologia do Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra. Como instrumentos de medida para avaliar o ajustamento mental ao cancro, a autocompaixão, o suporte social e os estados emocionais negativos dos participantes foram utilizadas a Escala de Ajustamento Mental ao Cancro (MiniMac), a Escala de Autocompaixão (Selfcs), a Escala de Satisfação com o Suporte Social (Esss) e a Escala de Sintomatologia Psicopatológica (Eads-21). Os resultados obtidos revelaram uma associação significativa entre algumas variáveis clínicas, nomeadamente ser fumador, perceção da gravidade da doença, existência de antecedentes familiares com doença oncológica, e as variáveis em estudo (ajustamento mental, autocompaixão, suporte social e psicopatologia). Foram ainda encontradas correlações significativas entre o ajustamento mental e as estratégias de regulação emocional (autocompaixão), suporte social e psicopatologia. Por último, as análises de regressão linear múltipla mostraram que o modelo preditor da sintomatologia depressiva e do ajustamento mental (avaliado pela dimensão de desânimo) inclui o mindfulness como um preditor significativo. Já em relação ao modelo preditor do stress, o grau de satisfação com o suporte dos amigos revelou ser um contributo importante. Estes resultados têm implicações práticas, sugerindo que estes doentes podem no seu programa terapêutico beneficiar do desenvolvimento deste tipo de estratégias (novas formas de se relacionarem com as suas experiências emocionais e qualidade das suas redes sociais) no sentido de promover um melhor ajustamento mental à sua condição. / The current investigation intended to study three main objetives: 1) to study the sociodemographical and clinical variables which characterize those who suffer from lung cancer; 2) to explore the relation between the mental adjustment to lung cancer, selfcompassion, social support and the negative mental conditions of the sick person; 3) to analyse the impact of self-compassion and the social support in relation to the mental adjustment and to the negative mental conditions of a sick person with lung cancer. The sample is made of 55 individuals (38 males and 17 females) diagnosed with lung cancer, aged between 44 and 87 years old, using medicines at the Hospital de Dia de Oncologia do Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra. The Mini Mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale (MiniMac), the Self-Compassion Scale (Selfcs), the Escala de Satisfação com o Suporte Social (Esss) and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (Eads-21) scales were used as measuring instruments of evaluation of the mental adjustment to lung cancer, selfcompassion, social support and the negative mental conditions of the sick person. The results revealed a significant association between some clinical variables (being a smoker, awareness of the gravity of sickness, precedent relatives who suffered from cancer) and the variables in study (mental adjustment, self-compassion, social support and psychopathology). There were also found significant correlations between mental adjustment and the strategies used for emotional adjustment (self-compassion), the social support and the psychopathology. At last the multiple linear regretting analysis has shown that the predictor model of depressive symptomatology and the mental adjustment (analysed by the discouragement dimension) includes mindfulness as a significant predictor. However in what concerns to the stress model predictor, the satisfaction level with friends support revealed itself has being of high importance. These results have practical consequences, suggesting that sick people can benefit in their therapeutic program of these kind of strategies (new ways of leading with their emotional experiences and the quality of their social relationships) so they can promote a better mental adjustment to their health condition.

Calidad de vida en pacientes con epilepsia que son atendidos en el departamento de neurología del Hospital San José de Bogotá

En el mundo aproximadamente 50 millones de personas presentan epilepsia, La enfermedad genera una gran secuela en el paciente, y en las familias con esta enfermedad. El objetivo de este artículo es describir condiciones que afecten la calidad de vida, mediante el formulario QOLIE-10, en los pacientes con epilepsia valorados en el Hospital de San José en Bogotá.