Electroconvulsive therapy use in New South Wales between 1944 and 1949.

Aims: To identify clinical and other factors associated with the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in New South Wales for the period 1944-1949 and to compare with contemporaneous practice.

Method: Annual reports of the Inspector-General of Mental Hospitals in NSW (1944/45 to 1948/49) were examined.

Main Findings: Seven hospitals reported a total of 8964 courses of treatment during the period.

Practise till you drop: Trialing an online intervention for late-career medical practitioners to promote planning for retirement.

Many medical practitioners in Australia work beyond the traditional retirement age. Transitioning to retirement is important, however, because the likelihood of poorer clinical outcomes increases with practitioner age. The objective of the present study was to develop and trial an online educational intervention to promote planning for a smoother transition to retirement using a non-randomized control group pre- and post-test design.

Older Physicians' Reporting of Psychological Distress, Alcohol Use, Burnout and Workplace Stressors.

Objective: Most of the published data on the psychological health of physicians has focused on the youngest members of the profession. The aims of this analysis were to determine how psychological morbidity changes across the career cycle.

Methods: We report data from the cross-sectional National Mental Health Survey of Doctors and Medical Students, conducted in Australia.

Neglect of Older People: Touching on Forensic and Pathophysiological Aspects.

Background And Objectives: Neglect of older people is common and may result in fatal and nonfatal outcomes. Normal changes of aging and disease-related symptoms may overlap with markers of neglect and lead to under-detection. This review aims to delineate medical, psychiatric, and pathophysiological indicators in the victim-identified in forensic case reports-to point out areas of overlap and raise awareness in Health Care Professionals.

Occupational Determinants of Successful Aging in Older Physicians.

Objectives: Demographic, physical and psychological associations of successful aging (SA) have been evaluated, but occupational factors have not. Nor has SA been evaluated in a specific occupational group. The aims of this study were to examine the occupational associations of SA in older physicians, and to explore the concept of occupational SA.

Aging women and men in the medical profession: The effect of gender and marital status on successful aging and retirement intent in Australian doctors.

Despite increasing interest from the medical profession in aging and retirement, we know little about effects of gender, marital status, and cohort on aging within the profession. We surveyed 1,048 Australian doctors from "younger" (55-64) and "older" (65-89) cohorts, investigating gender and marital effects on perceptions of successful aging, career, and retirement intent. Women intend to retire earlier.

Professional and psychosocial factors affecting the intention to retire of Australian medical practitioners.

Objective: To determine the professional and personal factors associated with the intention to retire (ITR) by medical practitioners.

Design, Participants And Setting: Cross-sectional survey of currently practising Australian doctors aged 55 or older registered with a commercial database. Participants completed an online self-report questionnaire in October 2015.

Clinical assessment of the late-career medical practitioner.

Objectives: This paper is a guide to the general psychiatric assessment of the late career medical practitioner (LCP) from a clinical viewpoint.

Conclusions: Late career is a specific developmental stage in medical practitioners, a time of transition towards retirement. The treating psychiatrist should be mindful of the welfare of the practitioner, the public and the profession during the assessment, which is conducted from a complex therapeutic and regulatory viewpoint.

The development and testing of the quality use of medications in dementia (QUM-D): a tool for quality prescribing for behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD).

Background: Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are virtually ubiquitous in dementia. Excessive recourse to use of psychotropics which have high risk to benefit ratio remains a global problem. We aimed to identify components of quality prescribing in BPSD to develop a tool for quality prescribing and to test this tool.

Adaptive ageing surgeons.

The surgical workforce is ageing. This will impact on future workforce supply and planning, as well as the professional performance and welfare of surgeons themselves. This paper is a 'call to arms' to surgeons to consider the complex problem of advancing years and surgical performance.

Neuropsychiatric effects of Parkinson's disease treatment.

Advances in the treatment of Parkinson's disease have led to significant improvement in many of the disabling motor symptoms of the disease, but often at the cost of neuropsychiatric side-effects. These include psychosis, dopamine dysregulation syndrome, impulse control disorders, mood disorders and Parkinson's disease drug withdrawal syndromes. Such side-effects can be as disabling and have as much impact on activities of daily living, quality of life, relationships and caregiver burden as motor symptoms.

Hippocampal and amygdala volumes in an older bipolar disorder sample.

Background: Brain volumetric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of adult bipolar disorder samples, compared with healthy controls, have reported conflicting results in hippocampal and amygdala volumes. Among these, few have studied older bipolar samples, which would allow for examination of the effects of greater duration in mood episodes on brain volumes. The aim of this study was to compare hippocampal and amygdala volumes in older bipolar patients with controls.

Building capacity in identification and management of mood disorders: an Australia-Sri Lanka collaboration.

Objective: This paper describes a collaborative capacity-building project in the identification and management of mood disorders, involving the Black Dog Institute in Sydney, Australia, and several organizations in Sri Lanka, and presents the qualitative evaluation findings.

Method: The two-year project comprised an initial intensive educational program delivered at the Institute with follow-up via email and an online forum (Phase 1), and continuing collaboration with the eight Sri Lankan clinicians and their respective organizations to build awareness of mood disorders and train others in Sri Lanka (Phase 2).

Results: The eight trainees planned and executed several joint and separate activities during Phase 2, with an emphasis on raising awareness of mood disorders and health professional training.