Thursday, September 18, 2003
National Institute of Mental Health Funds 1.98 Million Study to Examine Effectiveness of Advance Directives for Patients With Mental Illnesses
Ascribe Newswire press release from Duke University reprinted at the
NAMI web site - "The National Institute of Mental Health has awarded a Duke University Medical Center team $1.98 million in research funding to study the use and effectiveness of "psychiatric advance directives [PADs]" -- legal documents created by patients who have planned ahead for their preferred course of treatment during a mental health crisis. This is the first major study funded by the U.S. government to evaluate PADs from initiation to outcomes, said the researchers. Despite the spread of laws that authorize the use of advance directives in the care of patients with mental illnesses, little research has been done to determine the effectiveness of these legal instruments. Although patients in 16 states have the right to create a PAD, very few take advantage of it, according to researchers at Duke. The four-year study will examine whether psychiatric patients will complete advance directives if they are provided the resources to do so, and will also determine whether or not doctors and hospitals can effectively put the plans into action."
States treating drug abuse as illness
MSNBC story - "States have taken sweeping action in recent years to roll back 'get-tough' approaches on drug policy, turning toward prevention, treatment and other alternatives to fight addiction, a new report from an advocacy group found. The survey of new laws between 1996 and 2001 found that states were adopting anti-drug approaches that treat addiction more like an illness than a crime, according to the Drug Policy Alliance, a group that supports such an approach." See also the
Drug Policy Alliance web site, their press release
Drug Policy Alliance Follows Drug Policy Across the States, the home page of the
State of the States report and the
report itself, in
Acrobat format. The site also features "one of the largest online collections of journal articles, reports, books, testimonies and
fact sheets that focus on drugs and drug policy from economic, criminal justice, and public health perspectives." For specifics, see their online
library.
New Program Will Pursue Schizophrenia Gene Leads NIH press release - "The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today announced a new program expanding genetics research on schizophrenia in its own Bethesda, Maryland laboratories." The program "over the next decade, will redouble intramural efforts focused on the genetics and neurobiology of cognition and psychosis. Multidisciplinary teams using mouse, fruit-fly and cell culture models, as well as clinical studies and brain imaging, will tease apart how the vulnerability genes work at the molecular, cellular and systems levels to discover the "risk architecture" of schizophrenia. Rather than relying on traditional clinical features of the illness, they will pursue changes in the brain underlying the altered thinking and emotionality associated with the illness."
State sets psychiatric care limit of 45 days (Colorado) Denver Post story - "Children and elderly patients without clear psychiatric needs will be nudged out of the state's two mental hospitals after 45 days, saving Colorado more than $2 million a year, under a new state plan. For those patients who remain past the 45 days without a documented 'medical necessity,' counties will be asked to pick up their tab, said Nancy McCallin, the governor's chief economist."
Panel urges halt to Medicaid cuts (Kentucky) Courier-Journal story - "A legislative committee called on Gov. Paul Patton yesterday to rescind controversial cuts to the state Medicaid program — a move some members acknowledged was symbolic, and one the governor promptly turned down."
Mental health's revolving door (New Zealand) New Zealand Herald story - "...The Auckland region has about 170 beds in four acute units based near Auckland, North Shore, Waitakere and Middlemore Hospitals. Because many people cannot obtain the community-based care they need when serious mental illness flares up, they become sicker and are admitted to an acute unit. The promoters of community care say this needless stress could be avoided if there were more community services. The Public Service Association has pushed for more "step-down" or "sub-acute" beds, which delegates say would reduce pressure on the acute units. To outside observers, Auckland's mental health services appear to have been in an almost perpetual crisis since the cost-cutting closure of Carrington Hospital in 1992 and even before. The concept of community care, implemented gradually since the 1970s but accelerated in the 1990s, remains controversial."
Mental health service crisis (Pennsylvania)
Story in the
Times Reporter - "As Community Mental Healthcare officials continue to renovate their Dover facility to accommodate 24-hour crisis services, recent news has them alarmed. It also has members of the Alcohol, Drug Addiction & Mental Health Services Board of Tuscarawas and Carroll Counties concerned. Cornerstone Support Services Inc. of New Philadelphia reportedly intends to cease its crisis services Sept. 30 – more than a month earlier than expected."
Mental health care fails, panel told (Michigan) Detroit News story - "Care for the mentally ill in Michigan is in a shambles, and state officials should consider wholesale reforms to increase the quality and quantity of services, health care professionals and advocates for the mentally ill told a joint state Senate committee on Wednesday."
