Tuesday, April 20, 2004

Surviving user-led research: Reflections on supporting user-led research projects (UK)
Page at the Mental Health Foundation web site indexing various sections of this October 2003 publication that are available for download in Adobe Acrobat format - " This report describes the realities of supporting user-led research as experienced by the Strategies for Living II team, at the Mental Health Foundation. It includes the achievements and challenges of this process in relation to issues of: power; roles and relationships; ethics; resources; and training. The report also outlines the lessons learned from these experiences, using examples and stories to illustrate points, and includes tips and recommendations. It is intended as a valuable resource for anyone, who has some familiarity with the field, and is considering carrying out or supporting user-led research. "  
  

Talking Points About Antidepressants and Suicide
Column in Medscape General Medicine by Thomas A. M. Kramer, MD - "Many people have asked me for advice about how to respond to questions from patients and the lay public about the recent press, and ultimately US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warnings, about suicidality and antidepressants. I thought it might be helpful to the readership to present some talking points about this issue which may be used in responding to these questions..." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Now Can We Talk About Health Care?
Article by Hilary Rodham Clinton in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine - "... Twenty-first-century problems, like genetic mapping, an aging population and globalization, are combining with old problems like skyrocketing costs and skyrocketing numbers of uninsured, to overwhelm the 20th-century system we have inherited. The way we finance care is so seriously flawed that if we fail to fix it, we face a fiscal disaster that will not only deny quality health care to the uninsured and underinsured but also undermine the capacity of the system to care for even the well insured." The Magazine also featured other related articles, including The Writing Cure, on narrative medicine; Singled Out, on health insurance; and The End of Primary Care, which notes that "the idea of the personal physician is out of date" and that primary care's future may be "in danger."  [Viewing New York Times resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Thompson Addresses Health Care Disparities
Las Vegas Sun story - "Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson told minority health care providers Monday that the Bush administration is committed to eliminating disparities in care even though a federal report understated the problem last year. Thompson insisted the administration is dealing with unequal care for minorities by supporting research targeted at minorities' health, providing more money for the AIDS problem among minorities and building more community health centers for racial and ethnic minority neighborhoods."  
  

Out with child restraints, in with hugs (Massachusetts)
Boston Globe story reprinted at the NAMI web site on the Cambridge Hospital Child Assessment Unit, where Dr. Bruce Hassuk replaced regulations about restraints and lock-ups "...with a new, collaborative theory that he says had not been used on hospitalized patients and introduced an 'Open Arms' approach that emphasized flexibility and mutual respect. He expanded visiting hours from two hours a day to 24, eliminated the use of restraints, and tore off the doors to the seclusion room. When asked why he thought those changes would work, Hassuk scratches his spiked blond hair, gives an impish smile, and says he sees himself as a kid and knows how he'd like to be treated."  
  

Magellan Health Services Combats Stigma with Web Resources
Business Wire press release at TMCNet - "...Magellan Health Services, the nation's leading manager of behavioral health and substance abuse services, recently launched its redesigned and enhanced Web site, providing its 58 million members with a secure and confidential setting to educate themselves about mental illness, substance abuse, and other complex life issues..." See also the redesigned Magellan web site.  
  

APA Deeply Concerned over Louisiana House Vote to Give Prescribing Rights to Psychologists; "Patients' Lives at Risk," Warns Goin
US Newswire press release - "The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is deeply concerned over yesterday's vote by the Louisiana House of Representatives to grant psychologists, who are not physicians, the right to prescribe powerful brain medications. The House voted 62-31 to pass HB 1426, which would permit self-professed 'medical psychologists' to prescribe psychotropic medications -- drugs that act on a patient's brain -- by getting training that is far short of medical school and residency. ... In addition to giving psychologists prescribing rights, the bill would subject prescribing psychologists to the lone oversight of the state Board of Examiners of Psychologists, a regulatory board whose members are not trained in the practice of medicine and cannot judge anyone's medical competency. The Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners has jurisdiction over judging medical competency in the state -- including for physicians, lab personnel and even acupuncture assistants -- but the bill's proponents would not allow language into the bill to include oversight from the medical board."  
  

Mental health providers warn of cuts (Missouri)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch story - "Metro East area mental health care providers say that a new system for funding their services could lead to big cuts in their programs, staff and the number of patients they can serve. In January, Gov. Rod Blagojevich criticized mental health providers over a lack of accountability and said the state would stop giving them 'blank checks.' Under a plan by the state Department of Human Services, mental health care providers would stop getting lump-sum grants that they must later reconcile with the state. The providers would have to bill the state at the end of the month for the costs they incurred, a system called 'fee for service.'"  
  

Ethnic seniors struggle with mental health (Canada)
London Free Press story on the work of Dr. Joel Sadavoy, "...a psychiatrist at Toronto's Mt. Sinai Hospital whose recent study, published a few weeks ago in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, looked at barriers to access in mental-health services for ethnic seniors."  
  

Mental health care not working (Michigan)
Detroit News story - "Consumers and providers of mental health care in Wayne County complained of heavy administrative costs, duplication of services and a lack of appropriate care at a hearing of the Michigan Mental Health Commission last week. Representatives of both groups said that a managed care system instituted by the state and federal governments in 2002 to provide competition among health care providers in the county has made the problems worse..."  
  

Advocates Argue State's Mental Health System 'At Crisis Point' (North Carolina)
WRAL story - "Officials estimate that more than 1 million people in North Carolina need treatment for mental illness or substance abuse. Advocates said the system in place is well-intentioned, but simply overwhelmed. The violence is rare, but it shines a bright light on the breakdowns in mental health funding and organization..."  
  

Bill to Study Mental Health Services Signed by Governor (Iowa)
Brief KCRG story - "Governor Vilsack has signed a bill that supporters say is a blueprint to create a uniform system of mental health care statewide. The bill authorizes the Iowa Department of Human Services to create a database of those who use mental health services and the kinds of treatment they receive..."