Fractures of the mandible are a common occurrence. Two approaches to treatment of mandibular fractures are; rigid fixation using large titanium plates and bicortical screws that function in a load-bearing manner using Arbeitsge-menschaft fur Osteosynthesefragen (AO) principles or semi-rigid fixation using small titanium plates and monocortical screws that function in a load-sharing manner placed according [read the full story…]
Herbal medicines often represent a cheaper alternative, or a low-cost complement, to standard pharmacotherapy. As a result, improved cost-effectiveness is often touted as a likely benefit of the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Many, myself included, have been openly critical of CAM research, while others have suggested ways in which CAM research could [read the full story…]
When two interventions are demonstrably equivalent in terms of clinical outcomes, it is unclear which should be provided. One obvious decision rule in this case is to implement the intervention that is least costly and therefore most cost-effective. A recent economic evaluation by Patel and colleagues estimates the cost-effectiveness of adherence therapy for people with [read the full story…]
The proportion of older people in the population is rising and because of improvement in oral health more of them as retaining their teeth. Consequentially more people in this age group will have more teeth at risk of caries. Dental service utilization is also lower in older age groups and chronic medial conditions; poly-pharmacy, frailty [read the full story…]
The authors of this paper found that the way people search for evidence relating to commissioning decisions varies, depending on their professional background. That is why this paper is particularly pertinent to commissioners, policy decision-makers, health managers, and medical librarians, who have the necessary skills to help staff working in commissioning to find the best [read the full story…]
Bulimia nervosa (BN) is an eating disorder; the diagnosis of which requires: persistent preoccupation with eating and an irresistible craving for food, episodes of overeating in which large amounts of food are consumed over a short period of time and potentially attempts to counteract the “fattening” effects of food by self-induced vomiting or laxative abuse. [read the full story…]
Those lovely people at the Joint Commissioning Panel for Mental Health (JCP-MH) have published four new guides to help those of you involved in commissioning community specialist services, older people’s services, inpatient and crisis home treatment and services for people with learning disabilities. These guides are short (around 20 pages), readable and nicely summarised with ten [read the full story…]
Here at Mental Elf HQ we’re expanding our skill set to include economics. Understanding the best way to value health and health care, and improving health outcomes with budget constraints in mind, are the key pastimes of economics elves. We hope to bring you the latest economic evidence in the field of mental health and to [read the full story…]
A year ago I blogged about the new mental health commissioning guides that the Joint Commissioning Panel for Mental Health (JCP-MH) had published for GPs. The JCP-MH is a collaboration between public sector organisations, charities and professional bodies. Their aim is to “inspire commissioners to improve mental health and wellbeing, using a values based commissioning [read the full story…]
In these times of austerity, there is a lot of interest in computerised cognitive behavioural therapy (cCBT) as a treatment for people with depression and anxiety. It is hoped that this cheap and easy to deliver intervention can help to reduce the long waiting lists for face-to-face talking treatments. I’ve regularly blogged about cCBT over [read the full story…]
