Friday, June 27, 2003

Time of Day Influences Nonattendance at Urgent Short-Term Mental Health Unit in Victoria, British Columbia
Article in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry - "To our knowledge, our findings present the first North American evidence that simply making the first appointment in the afternoon could significantly decrease FTNS and thus ensure better use of scarce health care resources."  
  

Insight and Neuropsychological Function in Patients With Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder With Psychotic Features
Article in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry - "This study investigates the pattern of association between patient unawareness of illness and neuropsychological tests of frontal lobe function in subjects with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (BD) with psychotic features."  
  

How to avoid ethnic bias when diagnosing schizophrenia
Article in Current Psychiatry Online - "In patients with psychotic symptoms, why are African-Americans more likely than whites to be diagnosed with schizophrenia? After more than 30 years of debate, some answers—and remedies for the problem—are becoming clear. In psychiatry, where interpersonal interactions are key to eliciting diagnostic symptoms and signs, there is an intrinsic risk of misinterpretation when clinician and patient are of different cultural, ethnic, or socioeconomic backgrounds. This article analyzes four factors that contribute to misinterpretation and to ethnic misdiagnosis of schizophrenia. Culturally sensitive strategies are offered to avoid diagnostic bias in clinical practice."  
  

Measure Calls for Wider Access to Federally Financed Research
New York Times article - "A group challenging the power of established scientific journals says legislation will be introduced to make the results of all federally financed research available to the public. The group, the Public Library of Science, which includes scientists, doctors, researchers and their public supporters, plans to announce legislation on Thursday that would give taxpayers greater access to scientific data. The group's objective is an open system of scientific publishing that would bypass the current system, which centers on journals that charge, through their subscriptions, for access to results." [Viewing New York Times resources requires registration, which is free]. See also the Public Library of Science web site.