Australasian psychiatry : bulletin of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists
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Australas Psychiatry · Apr 2010
Primary care mental health consultation-liaison: a connecting system for private psychiatrists and general practitioners.
The aim of this study was to describe and evaluate a service that provides a single point-of-entry for general practitioners (GPs) wishing to refer their patients for one-off psychiatric consultations, using a new Medicare Item, number 291. ⋯ A single access point for GPs to access patient appointments to private psychiatric consultants is a simple and acceptable mode of increasing access for many patients to expert assessment and management plans.
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The aim of this paper is to outline strategies for teaching psychiatry to medical students. The background is that today's medical students are tomorrow's doctors. Undergraduate psychiatry teaching provides us a unique opportunity to instil positive attitudes, knowledge and skills in the medical workforce of the future. Moreover, teaching has many positives for the individual clinician, their service and the community. ⋯ We outline 12 strategies that we find makes teaching not only enjoyable for us, but engaging, memorable and relevant for students.
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This article describes the Western Australian mental health court liaison service. It examines the outcomes that can be measured to assess mental health court liaison services and considers Western Australia's service against criteria described in the literature. ⋯ It is important to review the efficacy of a service against criteria over which it has control. Outcomes that have specific utility for court liaison are discussed.
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Australas Psychiatry · Aug 2009
Alprazolam prescribing in Tasmania: a two-fold intervention designed to reduce inappropriate prescribing and concomitant opiate prescription.
The population rate of alprazolam prescribing in Tasmania has been more than double that of national rates. Serious adverse events have been observed through co-administration of opioid medications with alprazolam. A two-fold intervention, comprising GP education coupled with changes to prescribing regulations, was designed with the intention to decrease inappropriate prescribing of alprazolam and thereby reduce adverse outcomes. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of the intervention on prescribing rates. ⋯ Education can be an effective strategy to influence prescribing behaviour of doctors. It is likely that this effect can be augmented by adoption of more stringent regulatory requirements.