Kirsten Lawson is frustrated by the uncertainty highlighted in a recent systematic review of the epidemiology of mental health attendances at emergency departments.
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John Baker summarises an updated Cochrane review on ‘as required’ PRN medication regimens for seriously mentally ill people in hospital, which finds no randomised controlled trials that support this widely used intervention.
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Laura Hemming considers a recent systematic review of patient outcomes following discharge from secure psychiatric hospitals. The review finds that patients from secure units have a higher chance of mortality and suicide following discharge, than people from other settings.
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John Baker is struck by the lack of evidence for crisis intervention for people with severe mental illness, highlighted by a recently updated Cochrane systematic review.
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17 RCTs were included in this review of oral care to reduce ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP). Evidence suggests it can reduce prevalence but not ICU mortality, length of ICU stay or duration of mechanical ventilation.
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Alison Turner reports on a recent study that explores a method for spotting opportunities for disinvestment and local perceptions of how disinvestment works in practice.
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Health Action Planning was advocated in the 2001 White Paper and hospital passports are becoming accepted practice. But what impact are they having on outcomes for people with learning disabilities?
Here Alison Giraud Saunders looks at a systematic review of published research on health records held by people with learning disabilities which looks at this question.
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Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) were introduced in the UK in the last revisions of the Mental Health Act. They are highly controversial, and unpopular amongst the mental health community. They clearly impact on an individual’s Human Rights. Interestingly, they cannot enforce a treatment but can require an individual to return to hospital or a place of treatment. [read the full story…]
Compulsory community treatment (CCT) is a method used in many industrialized nations, including the UK and Australia, that allows clinicians to legally oblige those with severe mental illness to comply with treatment in the community and can allow clinicians to recall them to hospital merely because they are not compliant with an aspect of treatment [read the full story…]
De-institutionalisation, the advent of community care and development of psychotropic medicines are implicated in the reduction in hospital bed numbers and mean length of stay. There remains a huge variance in length of stay and outcomes across the UK and beyond (NHS Confederation, 2011). Figures on length of stay and service configuration are difficult to [read the full story…]
