Congenital absence of anterior pericardium at left ventricular assist device implantation.

We report a case of congenital absence of the anterior pericardium in a 41-year-old man who was undergoing implantation of a left ventricular assist device for treatment of congestive heart failure.

Mental health program monitoring: towards simplifying a complex task.

Finding measures that can assess areas of expected program impact, provide valid results, and be easily integrated into routine program practices is a significant challenge. This paper is intended to assist program staff by providing an accessible inventory of measures appropriate for routine monitoring of the status and outcome of individuals using mental health outpatient and community programs. The inventory is not exhaustive, but rather includes examples of solid measures for assessing outcomes in four key domains--symptoms, functioning, quality of life, and satisfaction.

The Resident Assessment Instrument-Mental Health (RAI-MH): inter-rater reliability and convergent validity.

An important challenge facing behavioral health services is the lack of good quality, clinically relevant data at the individual level. The article describes a multinational research effort to develop a comprehensive, multidisciplinary mental health assessment system for use with adults in facilities providing acute, long-stay, forensic, and geriatric services. The Resident Assessment Instrument-Mental Health (RAI-MH) comprehensively assesses psychiatric, social, environmental, and medical issues at intake, emphasizing patient functioning.