Researchers in this Canadian study looked at the factors associated with the use of psychiatric emergency services by people with learning disabilities who were living with their family. They conducted an audit of hospital chart audits for a sample of 20 such individuals with learning disabilities who had visited the emergency department (ED) at the [read the full story…]
Researchers in Canada working with people with learning disabilities and mental health problems set out in this study to understand what happens when such individuals experience a psychiatric emergency. They looked at the experience of those people living with their families when such emergencies occurred, to consider what additional services families might need, including going [read the full story…]
Screening for alcohol misuse in the emergency department needs to be done quickly and accurately, so it makes sense to find the best instrument for this purpose. This systematic review of diagnostic cohort studies searched a range of databases and journals and also conducted citation searching because of a lack of relevant literature found by [read the full story…]
Life stress and in particular key stressful events have long been linked with mental ill health. These researchers in Canada set out to look at the link between life events and psychopathology in people with learning disabilities and in particular, the link with hospital use. The researchers asked key informants to complete a checklist of [read the full story…]
This ecological analysis published in the BMJ examines the rise in the rate of involuntary admissions for mental illness in England that has occurred as community alternatives to hospital admission have been introduced. The study used available data on provision of beds for people with mental illness in the NHS from Hospital Activity Statistics and involuntary [read the full story…]
Crisis resolution and home treatment (CRHT) teams were introduced in England throughout 2000 and 2001 and a number of studies have been published since then which have shown that they are associated with reductions in inpatient admissions. This new study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry used data from a previous national study for 229 [read the full story…]
The British Society of Gastroenterology and the Royal Bolton Hospital NHS Foundation Trust have published a quality and productivity (QIPP) case study, which looks at how to reduce alcohol related hospital admissions and improve the quality of care. Very few hospitals have dedicated alcohol services, and a 2009 survey showed that only 42% of acute [read the full story…]
