NEW PULSE PUBLICATION: The inaugural issue of the PULSE Quarterly Briefing was published in late June and has already received a great deal of praise ("Brilliant" - Fran Silvestri, Director: International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership; "A triumphant inaugural issue" - Paul Lefkovitz, CEO: Behavioral Pathway Systems; "Very useful..." - Elaine Alfano, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law). The PQB comes bundled with two other services, the "PULSE Bulletin" (40 issues/year) and "Recent Resources" (10 issues /year) and organizational subscriptions include access to a set of Internet-based tools for distributing news and announcements. For details on subscriptions, please see the new PULSE Community Site.

 Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Bias in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Bipolar Disorder in Minorities A Medscape Psychiatry & Mental Health "Expert Interview" - "African Americans with bipolar disorder are more likely to carry the diagnosis of schizophrenia than their white counterparts. Why does this imbalance exist? How can you avoid misdiagnosing minorities? How does this lack of diagnostic precision affect therapy? On behalf of Medscape, Randall F. White, MD, interviewed Amy Kilbourne, PhD, MPH, Veterans Administration Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Schizophrenia in Women From Medscape coverage of the 2nd World Congress on Women's Mental Health - " Sex and gender differences in schizophrenia have been described for a long time, especially with respect to age at onset, symptomatology, and course of the disease. More recently, sex differences in brain morphology and function have been reported. Furthermore, there has been a growing interest in gender-specific psychosocial influences and gender-sensitive therapeutic approaches. Together, the presentations by several speakers during the 2nd World Congress on Women's Mental Health gave us a comprehensive overview of the evidence-based knowledge about sex and gender differences and the specifics of schizophrenic disorders in women. Biological as well as psychosocial differences between men and women were outlined, and the implications for diagnostic procedures as well as therapy (pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, and social measurements) were discussed." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Quebec mental health services networks: models and implementation Article in the International Journal of Integrated Care - "In the transformation of health care systems, the introduction of integrated service networks is considered to be one of the main solutions for enhancing efficiency. In the last few years, a wealth of literature has emerged on the topic of services integration. However, the question of how integrated service networks should be modelled to suit different implementation contexts has barely been touched. To fill that gap, this article presents four models for the organization of mental health integrated networks."  
  

Drug Abuse Warning Network, 2003: Area Profiles of Drug-Related Mortality Data from the SAMHSA DAWN project - "This is the first publication of mortality data from the new Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN). Virtually every feature of DAWN, except its name, changed in 2003. In this publication, we refer to "new DAWN" to emphasize these differences. The purpose of this publication is to profile the drug-related deaths reported to DAWN by participating medical examiners and coroners (ME/Cs) for 2003. Each metropolitan area or State is presented separately, with participating and non-participating jurisdictions clearly identified. No system-wide summaries are provided, either in the text or in tables. Our intent is to discourage aggregation of data across areas, because the mortality component of DAWN is not national in scope nor can it be used to derive national estimates. DAWN mortality data for 2003 are not comparable to those for any prior years. In fact, no comparisons of data from the "old" and "new" DAWN are possible. "  
  

Some House Members Warned of VA Health Deficit as Early as Last Year Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report item - "Former Chair of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee Christopher Smith (R-N.J.) and several Republicans warned House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) last year that the government would have a budget deficit of at least $750 million for veterans' health care programs in fiscal year 2006, the AP/Richmond Post-Dispatch reports ..."  
  

NIAAA Issues New Clinician’s Guide for Helping Patients Who Drink Too Much I-Newswire press release - "The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has released a new guide for health care practitioners to help them identify and care for patients with heavy drinking and alcohol use disorders. Helping Patients Who Drink Too Much: A Clinician’s Guide is now available free online and in print, with a pocket version included."  
  

A Goal: Homes for 9,500 (Washington) Seattle Weekly story - "King County is about to take a stab at reducing that figure—to zero. On July 11, King County Executive Ron Sims, business leaders, government officials, and homeless advocates rolled out a 10-year plan to end county homelessness once and for all. But it's a plan that some advocates for the homeless say falls short because it doesn't address underlying economic issues. The plan aims to end homelessness by "putting a roof over every bed" and thereby eliminate homelessness instead of merely managing the problem. The plan estimates that it will take 9,500 units of long-term, low-income housing to meet that goal, as well as aggressive integration of mental-health care and substance-abuse treatment. About 40 percent of the homeless surveyed in the One Night Count reported mental-health issues...."  
  

Mind Highlights Trustees' Mental Health Problems (UK) Red Nova story - "Mind, the mental health charity, has issued a statement declaring that one in five of its trustees have been compulsorily detained under the Mental Health Act. The charity's first audit of council management revealed that 15 of its 24 trustees have had mental health problems in the past year, whereas 18 have directly experienced mental distress and can call on recent experience. A spokesman said the charity decided to make the figures public 'for reasons of transparency and accountability'."  
  

Bredesen Launches Mental Health Safety Net Initiative (Tennessee) Story in The Chatanoogan - "Gov. Phil Bredesen today joined Commissioner of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Virginia Trotter Betts to announce a $11.4 million partnership with community mental health agencies from across Tennessee that will benefit nearly 20,000 Tennesseans. In the most recent of efforts under Gov. Bredesen’s Health Care Safety Net, Tennessee will provide the funding for 20 community-based, nonprofit mental health agencies to continue key mental health services for patients with severe mental illnesses who will come off TennCare, the state’s financially troubled public health program."