Shortcomings of services for persons with severe and persistent mental health challenges: a qualitative study of service users and family carers.

Introduction: The opinions of service users and carers are crucial to identifying ways to innovate and implement system change. This study aims to explore the views and experiences of service users and carerson the services they have used for their mental health challenges and their suggestions for service reform.

Methods: Twenty participants (15 carers and 5 service users) were interviewed for the study.

Mental health integrated care models in primary care and factors that contribute to their effective implementation: a scoping review.

Background: In the state of Victoria, Australia, the 111-day lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the population's prevailing state of poor mental health. Of the 87% of Australians who visit their GP annually, 71% of health problems they discussed related to psychological issues. This review had two objectives: (1) To describe models of mental health integrated care within primary care settings that demonstrated improved mental health outcomes that were transferable to Australian settings, and (2) To outline the factors that contributed to the effective implementation of these models into routine practice.

Content analysis of nurses' reflections on medication errors in a regional hospital.

Background: Medication errors [MEs] continue to be an area of concern both nationally and internationally.

Methods: Sixty-eight reflective summaries detailing reasons for medication errors completed by nurses at an Australian regional teaching hospital during a five-year period were analysed.

Results: Fifteen codes emerged from the data that aligned to three main categories of the Human Factors Framework.

Clinicians' and Users' Views and Experiences of a Tele-Mental Health Service Implemented Alongside the Public Mental Health System during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

A tele-mental health model called Head to Health was implemented in the state of Victoria, Australia to address the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a free centralized intake service that adopted a targeted approach with several novel elements, such as stepped care and telehealth. This study examines the views and experiences of clinicians and service users of the tele-mental health service in the Gippsland region of Victoria during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Centralized Intake Models and Recommendations for Their Use in Non-Acute Mental Health Services: A Scoping Review.

Centralized intake [CI] or single-entry models are utilized in health systems to facilitate service access by reducing waiting times. This scoping review aims to consolidate the Literature on CI service models to identify their characteristics and rationales for their use, as well as contexts in which they are used and challenges and benefits in implementing them. The review also aims to offer some lessons learned from the Literature and to make recommendations for its implementation in non-acute mental health services.

Dermatological presentations to a regional Victorian hospital emergency department: A 1-year audit.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to describe the epidemiological features of each presentation with a primary dermatological diagnosis to a regional emergency department (ED).

Design: 1-year retrospective audit.

Setting: Regional Victorian hospital emergency department.

Rural health service leaders co-design state-wide research addressing an emerging health issue: A case report.

Aims: This commentary aims to describe a case of how meaningful co-design between rural health service leaders and a health service-embedded research unit can identify emerging research priorities and optimise translation.

Context: The challenges facing rural health services are unique, and the important role of health service leaders in the research response is increasingly recognised. Poorly-designed research can contribute to research waste through reduced applicability of results to rural communities, and an opportunity exists to increase research co-designed with rural health services through the involvement of research users during study planning.

Effectiveness of personal recovery facilitators in adults with schizophrenia and other psychoses: A systematic review of reviews and narrative synthesis.

This review aimed to examine the evidence base for the use of personal recovery facilitators [non-psychopharmacological approaches] for adults with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and other psychoses. A systematic review (umbrella review) was conducted of reviews published in English between January 2010 and February 2022, which examined the effectiveness of personal recovery facilitators to support aspects of personal recovery as defined by the CHIME framework (connectedness, hope and optimism, identity, meaning and purpose, and empowerment). Twenty-one systematic reviews on thirteen different types of personal recovery facilitators [PRFs] were included in this umbrella review.

Strategies to Facilitate Mental Healthcare Access in Marginalised Local Communities: Case Studies from India and Australia.

Background: Mental disorders are amongst the highest contributors to the Global Burden of Disease. However, despite the universal reach of these disorders, there are vast disparities in the provision of mental health services both between and within nations. Marginalised groups such as rural communities, ethnic minorities, refugees and indigenous peoples are known to be at higher risk of experiencing mental disorders but do not receive adequate care for it.

Factors affecting learning during internship: A qualitative study of junior doctors.

Background And Objectives: Internship is a crucial period of learning for medical graduates. The aim of this study was to ascertain what interns learned during internship, who they learned from and the type of environments that influenced their learning.

Method: This qualitative study was conducted within the constructivist paradigm of Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of learning.

Care coordination as a collaborative element of recovery oriented services for persons with severe mental illness.

Objective: To propose a model where care coordination can form part of recovery oriented care when it is included as a collaborative element of services for persons with severe mental illness.

Conclusion: A recovery-oriented service requires more than clinical interventions. It also needs to address social determinants and be individualised or person centred.

Hospital medication errors: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Medication errors (MEs) are among the most common types of incidents reported in Australian and international hospitals. There is no uniform method of reporting and reducing these errors. This study aims to identify the incidence, time trends, types and factors associated with MEs in a large regional hospital in Australia.

Coping styles and mental health in response to societal changes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Psychosocial responses to infectious disease outbreaks have the potential to inflict acute and longstanding mental health consequences. Early research across the globe has found wide ranging psychological responses to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding how different coping styles can be effective in mitigating mental ill health would enable better tailored psychological support.

PERSPECTIVES: Recovery Oriented Services for Persons with Severe Mental Illness Can Focus on Meeting Needs Through Care Coordination.

Background: The approach to care for persons with an acute illness is different from that for a person with a chronic disease. Whilst the goal of treatment for an acute illness is to cure the disease, a chronic condition has no cure as such, and hence management requires a team approach that is aimed at achieving goals that are jointly set by service users and providers. Severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI) is a chronic disease.

Job satisfaction of rural medical interns: A qualitative study.

Objective: To study reasons for job satisfaction and dissatisfaction among interns.

Design: Using a qualitative methodology, one-to-one interviews were conducted with interns.

Setting: The study was based at a Victorian Rural Intern Training program.

Care Coordination Can Reduce Unmet Needs of Persons With Severe and Persistent Mental Illness.

Persons with severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI) have multiple and complex needs, many of which are not health related. Mental health services are unable to address these needs without collaboration with other agencies. In the absence of this collaboration, persons with SPMI often fall through the system cracks and are unlikely to experience recovery.

Profile of transcultural patients in a regional Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service in Gippsland, Australia: The need for a multidimensional understanding of the complexities.

Background: Several childhood stressors related to immigration have been documented, and it is important for clinicians to understand and address the various factors that may lead to or act as maintaining factors of mental disorders in children and adolescents.

Aims: To describe the cultural profile of transcultural patients presenting to a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in regional Victoria and identify the most common disorders and psychosocial stressors they presented with.

Method: Descriptive analysis was applied to 101 case records of patients with a transcultural background who attended the CAMHS of Latrobe Regional Hospital in Gippsland Victoria from 2013 to 2017.

Unmet needs of persons with a severe and persistent mental illness and their relationship to unmet accommodation needs.

This is a cross-sectional study of unmet needs of persons enrolled in Australia's Partners in Recovery (PIR) initiative. It aimed to explore the unmet needs reported by persons with a severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI) and to examine the associations between unmet accommodation needs and other unmet needs. The study was undertaken in the Gippsland region of Victoria from February to May 2015.

A Care Coordination Model Can Facilitate Interagency Collaboration When Designing Recovery-Oriented Services.

The purpose of the current article is to highlight the potential of a care coordination model in promoting interagency collaboration when designing recovery-oriented services. The authors argue the case using exemplars from the literature and lessons learned from Australia's Partners in Recovery initiative. Interagency collaboration is paramount when designing a recovery-oriented service system.

Lower Income Levels in Australia Are Strongly Associated With Elevated Psychological Distress: Implications for Healthcare and Other Policy Areas.

Australia is a high-income country with increasing income inequality. It is unclear whether Australia's well-developed mental healthcare system is making a difference to population mental health and the Federal Government has targeted outcomes accountability in service funding strategies. In high-income countries, evidence generally suggests that income inequalities increase mental disorders among the poor.

Concepts, Practices and Advantages of Spirituality Among People with a Chronic Mental Illness in Melbourne.

There is a relative paucity of literature in the field of spirituality among people who have a lived experience of severe mental illness from Australia. Sixteen individuals with a severe mental illness were interviewed on their experiences of spirituality. The three themes that emerged from the data were concepts of spirituality, benefits of intentional spiritual practices and perceived spiritual benefits of recreational pursuits and physical activity.

Women's experiences of cancer-related cognitive impairment, its impact on daily life and care received for it following treatment for breast cancer.

Several women who undergo treatment for breast cancer experience cancer-related cognitive impairment [CRCI] commonly known as 'Chemobrain' or 'Chemofog'. However, many oncologists and other cancer clinicians are unaware of the high prevalence and severity of these symptoms. Few qualitative studies on the topic provide a comprehensive description of this phenomenon.

Referral patterns and implementation costs of the Partners in Recovery initiative in Gippsland: learnings for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Objective:: The purpose of this paper is to provide some learnings for the NDIS from the referral pattern and cost of implementing the Partners in Recovery initiative of Gippsland.

Method:: Information on referral areas made for each consumer was collated from support facilitators. Cost estimates were determined using budget estimates, administrative costs and a literature review and are reported from a government perspective.