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An informant history is critical in the complete cognitive assessments of older adults, but has never been formally assessed. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
The paediatric population is known to be at high risk for psychiatric problems. Paediatric liaison child/adolescent mental health services (PL-CAMHS) have been developed to help increase recognition and management of psychiatric morbidity in the paediatric setting. This report describes clinical activity by a psychological medicine PL-CAMHS and considers specificity by comparing this with community/general CAMHS activity. Login using your SSOTP NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSSFT - request a copy of the article from the library - www.sssft.nhs.uk/library
Depression in older people is commonly under diagnosed and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Because older people currently occupy 65% of acute hospital beds, it is crucial for them to be properly assessed for depression to optimise their medical care. The aim of this study was to identify potential risk factors for depression in the medically ill in order to improve their inpatient care. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - request a copy of the article from the library - www.sssft.nhs.uk/library
At Wishaw General Hospital in Lanarkshire the Emergency Admissions team decided how to use the Carers Welcome principle to improve the care the offered to patients with dementia.
Tracy Dodd, senior charge nurse and Jacqueline Young, nurse team leader, describe their approach to keeping patients together with their carers and also proactively seeking information from the carers whether they are present at the hospital or not.
Starting on 15 February, the BBC will be showcasing a series of programmes to raise awareness and reduce the stigma of mental illness. [Includes programmes on postpartum psychosis, suicide, bipolar, mental health in A&E and young people's mental health issues]
Commentary on Cochrane corner article. ‘Collaborative care’ (involving a case manager) and ‘primary care liaison’ or ‘consultation liaison’ (with no case manager) are models of liaison psychiatry in primary care. Here, I briefly consider the evidence for collaborative care, discuss Gillies et al’s Cochrane review on consultation liaison, and suggest avenues for future study and development of liaison psychiatry in primary care. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - request a copy of the article from the library - www.sssft.nhs.uk/library
Cochrane corner. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - request a copy of the article from the library - www.sssft.nhs.uk/library
Idea To create a carer’s passport that provides details of the main carer and gives them greater access to assist in providing care. The carer’s passport opens up hospital wards to carers of patients living with Alzheimer’s or one of the other forms of dementia and has been adopted successfully at other hospitals.
To understand issues around carer roles that affect carer involvement for people with intellectual disabilities in acute hospitals. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
delirium and dementia co-exist commonly in hospital. Older people with delirium have high rates of undiagnosed dementia, but delirium affects the use of cognitive testing in dementia diagnosis. Novel methods to detect dementia in delirium are needed. The purpose of the study was to investigate the diagnostic test accuracy of informant tools to detect dementia in hospitalised older people with delirium. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
delirium is under-recognised in comparison to other common and serious acute disorders. A 2006 survey of UK junior doctors (not undertaking specialist training) identified poor knowledge of the diagnostic criteria and treatment of delirium. We hypothesised that increased prominence accorded to delirium in the form of national initiatives and guidelines may have had an impact on understanding among junior doctors. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
depression is common in people with poor physical health, particularly within the acute medical in-patient setting. Co-morbid depression contributes to poor outcomes, and screening for depression in acute medical in-patients has been advocated. The Edinburgh Depression Scale (EDS) has been validated in a variety of general hospital patient groups, but not previously in older acute medical in-patients. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
Karin Neufield and colleagues explore this question in their paper published this year (Neufield et al, 2016). This is a systematic review and meta-analysis looking at whether antipsychotics are any good in the treatment and prevention of delirium.
There is evidence for collaboration between police officers and mental health teams when responding to people in mental health crises. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens details for full text. SSOTP - You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you requesting.
In the last of our series of blogs about the Mental Health Implementation Plan launched earlier this week, nurse consultant Kate Chartres discusses how the model of liaison at Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust supports patients through specialist clinics for people with co-morbid physical and mental health conditions
North Cumbria University Hospitals Trust has launched a scheme which will ensure carers can be with dementia patients outside of visiting hours to help improve their wellbeing.
The ‘Carer’s Pass’, which is being launched from November 2016, is part of the national John’s Campaign, which was set up to encourage carer involvement for people with Dementia while they are in hospital. The campaign was set up the family by Dr John Gerrard, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and felt that that the lack of people he knew to tend and comfort him contributed to this deterioration.
The Carer’s Pass gives carers the opportunity to remain with the person they care for if they wish outside of visiting hours. Carer’s with a Carer’s Pass will be a key part of a team with the health professionals on the ward. Staff will liaise with the carer to ensure a staff member takes over full responsibility for the person they care for if they want to leave, including agreeing break time.
Open access. We aimed to audit the documentation of decision-making capacity (DMC) assessments by our liaison psychiatry service against the legal criteria set out in the Mental Capacity Act 2005. We audited 3 months split over a 2-year period occurring before, during and after an educational intervention to staff.
The facility is located alongside the acute hospital’s A&E department and will support up to four people at a time. The unit will provide a short term safe therapeutic environment where people in crisis can be assessed and then referred on to the appropriate service, or be discharged into the community. The unit will be accessible for people 24 hours a day and will provide an alternative pathway for people requiring urgent mental health on-going assessment and suffering with mental health difficulties in crisis. Staff will support people to develop coping strategies to help manage their mental health in the futu
Delirium is a common and serious complication of hospitalisation in older adults. It can lead to prolonged hospital stay, institutionalisation, and even death. However, it often remains unrecognised or is not managed adequately. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of an educational intervention for nursing staff on three aspects of clinical practice concerning delirium in older hospitalised patients: the frequency and correctness of screening for delirium using the 13-item Delirium Observation Screening score (DOS), and the frequency of geriatric consultations requested for older patients. The a priori expectations were that there would be an increase in all three of these outcomes.
In results published April 29, 2017 in JAMA Psychiatry , the largest ED-based suicide intervention trial ever conducted in the United States examined how screening in emergency departments, followed by safety planning guidance and periodic phone check-ins led to a 30 percent decrease in suicide attempts over the 52 weeks of follow-up, compared to standard emergency department care.
screening for cognitive impairment in Emergency Department (ED) requires short, reliable tools.. To read the full article, log in using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens details. SSOTP - You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
Aim: To reduce the incidence of self-harming behaviour and improve well-being and experience of care for individuals who present regularly to the emergency department in one hospital following self-harm, by providing outpatient care.
To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
Using my clinical academic knowledge and understanding of dementia, with the library team provided the underpinning research based framework; we were able to highlight skills and understanding to enhance care, and support patients and staff in a more person centred approach.
dementia 3Our dementia volunteers all receive dementia care as part of their corporate training, and attend additional presentations about meal time support. There are opportunities to attend further sessions such as Sage and Thyme and Dignity Awareness. Evidence of their visits and input is recorded to capture the difference it is making and to be able to report back to Carers and Patients’ Experience (CAPE) board.
QTc prolongation creates an electrophysiological environment that confers an increased risk for development of ventricular arrhythmias, in particular torsades de pointes (TdP), a form of polymorphic ventricular tachycardia. This may result in syncope or sudden cardiac death.1–5 In addition, prolonged QTc at admission has been associated with worse outcomes independent of malignant ventricular rhythms.6 Numerous studies have demonstrated a high prevalence of QTc prolongation among patients admitted to the hospital in a wide variety of settings including the intensive care unit and acute psychiatric units. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
Open access. Pain and delirium are common in people with dementia admitted to hospitals. These are often under-diagnosed and under-treated. Pain is implicated as a cause of delirium but this association has not been investigated in this setting.
We'd like to hear your suggestions for new book alert topics. Simply reply to this email with 'Book Alert Topic' and your suggestions. You can also view and sign-up to our current new book alerts here: http://library.sssft.nhs.uk/librarykeepuptodate
Psychodermatology is the interaction between skin and mind. Psychodermatological conditions are present in many patients with a mental health condition or mental health concerns. However, conditions such as dermatitis artefacta and trichotillomania are commonly misunderstood, and access to treatment may be limited. Nurses play a vital role in supporting patients and families by assessing, treating and managing such conditions, while also providing education on the condition and the treatment that is required. This article describes common psychodermatological conditions and the variety of care that can be carried out. To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details.
Paramedics in Derbyshire have joined police and mental health nurses to improve how emergency services respond to people who call 999 when in crisis
The Mental Health Triage Hub based at Derbyshire Constabulary’s call centre in Ripley began as a pilot in 2014. Its focus was specialist intervention when police were considering using Section 136 of the Mental Health Act, which officers can apply if they suspect a person has a mental illness and needs ‘care and control’ in a place of safety. To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details.
Patients with dementia in the acute setting are generally considered to impose higher costs on the health system compared to those without the disease largely due to longer length of stay (LOS). Many studies exploring the economic impact of the disease extrapolate estimates based on the costs of patients diagnosed using routinely collected hospital discharge data only. However, much dementia is undiagnosed and therefore in limiting the analysis to this cohort, we believe that LOS and the associated costs of dementia may be overestimated. We examined LOS and associated costs in a cohort of patients specifically screened for dementia in the hospital setting. . To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details.
This article discusses perioperative variables that can be used to identify patients who are more vulnerable to experiencing cognitive decline after surgery. It also highlights some screening tools that could be useful for early detection and for planning nursing care. To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details.
Nurses often care for people with mental health conditions in general clinical settings. In these situations, they have a responsibility to ensure that the individual’s physical, social and psychological needs are assessed and met. Nurses practising in general clinical settings should be familiar with the skills and knowledge required to meet the needs of people with mental health conditions. This article aims to provide nurses practising in general clinical settings with an understanding of such conditions and the associated effects on an individual’s physical health. To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details.
Open access. To understand the views of qualified medical practitioners regarding “reasonable adjustments” and the quality of the care and treatment provided to adults with intellectual disabilities when admitted to acute hospitals as inpatients.
Our aim is to evaluate if and how neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) of dementia influence the management and disposition of older adults who present to emergency care settings. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
Trish Holliday, Ward Manager for the Surgical Inpatient Unit, and her team on Ward 6 at Westmorland General Hospital at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, have designed memory boxes to improve engagement between Trust staff and patient with dementia.
The empty boxes are given to relatives to fill with items belonging to the patient such as photos, aromas, toys and letters.
This helps to make families feel involved.
Whilst making every effort to address physical health issues, the social isolation that [elderly] patients were experiencing was potentially causing or exacerbating mental health issues.
The idea of ‘Adopt a Grandparent’ was to identify a workforce of volunteers who could spend a short time each week simply talking to some of the more socially isolated patients.
The additional benefit of this scheme is that it also serves to break down barriers between the clinical and non-clinical sides of a large NHS organisation and enables the more office-based staff to become engaged in the core business of the hospital, patient care.
‘Treat as One’, a report from the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD)outlines the findings of a recent review of the mental health care provided to patients who are receiving treatment for physical health problems in UK general hospitals.
Our alcohol liaison team comprises four clinical nurse specialists who provide a seven day service across two hospitals.2015-02-20_54e760b68cf97_Alcoholliaisonteam.JPG
The team has successfully reduced the rate of increase in alcohol related hospital emergency admissions, reduced the length of stay in hospital for alcohol related issues, and improved access and engagement with primary care and community specialist substance misuse services.
Consultant liaison psychiatrist Alex Thomson and colleagues James Hughes and Genevieve Holt, from CNWL discuss how a focus on outcomes allows its staff and patients to work together to improve services.
There is good evidence to suggest that certain outpatient psychological treatments, and particularly cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), are effective in reducing repetition of self-harm and, to a lesser extent, suicide.4 Because of resourcing limitations, however, patients often face delays of up to several weeks before their first appointment; even in countries with well-resourced psychiatric services.5 Yet almost half of all patients who repeat self-harm will do so in this period.6 Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Nurses working in police custody settings may be called on to assess a detainee’s fitness to be interviewed by police, for example where the person is thought to have a mental disorder or vulnerability. This article outlines the role of the custody nurse in the fitness-to-interview assessment.
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