Thursday, January 20, 2005

More Monitoring Needed of Kids in California Mental Health Clinics    Story at Forbes - "Problems with documentation of drug responses and child abuse screening and reporting are among the gaps in quality of care for children in California's public mental health clinics, says a University of California, Los Angeles-led study. Researchers examined the patient records of children treated at the public clinics and identified a number of strengths and weaknesses in quality of care for children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and major depression. The clinics received high marks for the thoroughness of mental health evaluations on the children. But the study said there was moderate to poor documentation of medical monitoring of psychoactive medications, parent consent for children's medication treatment, recommended contact with schools and other health-care providers, and child abuse screening and reporting."