Using the Project ECHO Model to Increase Pediatric Primary Care Provider Confidence to Independently Treat Adolescent Depression.

Objective: The model for the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (Project ECHO®) was used to extend specialist support to the pediatric medical home for the treatment of adolescent depression by taking a comprehensive, disease-specific approach.

Methods: Child and adolescent psychiatrists constructed a course to train community pediatric primary care providers (PCPs) to screen patients for depression, initiate evidence-based interventions, and provide ongoing management. Participants were assessed for changes in clinical knowledge and self-efficacy.

Overweight and the sexual assault forensic medical examination: a pressing problem.

This paper examines the problems faced by forensic physicians assessing overweight victim/survivors of sexual assault, using sample cases and reviewing the literature. This under-researched area is a minefield of practical difficulties and unanswered questions, with the need for solutions becoming more pressing as overweight becomes more common. Overweight has the potential to alter injury patterns; the way forensic medical examinations are conducted; and injury and specimen interpretation.

Increasing impact of mental health presentations on New South Wales public hospital emergency departments 1999-2006.

Objective: The percentage of mental health (MH) presentations to New South Wales (NSW) EDs in recent years has not been described at the statewide level. Evidence from other states suggests this burden might be increasing. The present study aims to evaluate recent trends in MH presentations to NSW EDs, including geographic variations and the spectrum of MH disorders encountered.