To summarise and comment upon research regarding the service delivery impact of the introduction of COVID-19 pandemic Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) psychiatrist telehealth services in Australia in ...2020-2021. Type of program or service: Privately-billed, MBS-reimbursed, face-to-face and telehealth consultations with a specialist psychiatrist during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This paper draws on analyses of previously published papers. MBS-item-consultation data were extracted for video, telephone and face-to-face consultations with a psychiatrist for April-September 2020 in Victoria, and compared to face-to-face consultations in the same period of 2019 and for all of Australia. We also extracted MBS-item-consultation data for all of Australia from April 2020-April 2021, and compared this to face-to-face consultations for April 2018-April 2019.
Although face-to-face consultations with psychiatrists waned following nationwide lockdowns, the introduction of MBS billing items for video and telephone telehealth meant that overall consultations were 13% higher in April 2020-April 2021, compared to the pre-pandemic year prior. A lockdown restricted to Victoria was associated with a 19% increase in consultations from April-September 2020, compared to the corresponding period in 2019.
Telehealth has been an integral component of Australia's relatively successful mental health response to COVID-19. The public availability of MBS data makes it possible to accurately assess change in psychiatric practice. The Australian Federal Government subsidises MBS telepsychiatry care by a patient rebate per consultation, illustrating that government-subsidised services can rapidly provide additional care. Rapid and substantial provision of telepsychiatry in Australia indicates that it may be a useful substitute or adjunct to face-to-face care during future pandemics and natural disasters.
Background: Worldwide suicide rates have declined since 2000s, with China being the primary contributor. This study aimed to investigate whether urbanisation is associated with decreasing suicide ...rates in China.
Methods: Suicide rates and economic indicators of 31 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions of China between 2005 and 2017 were analysed. Poisson random intercept models were used to determine associations between suicide rates, urbanicity, sexes, and gross regional product (GRP).
Results: Between 2005 and 2017, suicide rates in 31 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions of China continued to decrease. Urbanicity and GRP were associated with decreased suicide rates among Chinese males and females. An increase in urbanicity by 1% was associated with a 2.2% decrease in suicide rates (p < 0.001). The most urbanised and populous cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin) had the lowest suicide rates. Urbanicity was associated with a greater decline in suicide rates among females, compared with males. Association between increased urbanicity and reduced suicide rates was independent of GRP.
Conclusion: Urbanisation was associated with declining suicide rates in China; this association was stronger among females than males.
Objective: Clozapine is a potent antipsychotic medication with a complex receptor profile. It is reserved for treatment-resistant schizophrenia. We systematically reviewed studies of non-psychosis ...symptoms of clozapine withdrawal.
Methods: CINAHL, Medline, PsycINFO, PubMed, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were searched using the keywords 'clozapine,' and 'withdrawal,' or 'supersensitivity,' 'cessation,' 'rebound,' or 'discontinuation'. Studies related to non-psychosis symptoms after clozapine withdrawal were included.
Results: Five original studies and 63 case reports / series were included in analysis. In 195 patients included in the five original studies, approximately 20% experienced non-psychosis symptoms following discontinuation of clozapine. In 89 patients in four of the studies, 27 experienced cholinergic rebound, 13 exhibited extrapyramidal symptoms (including tardive dyskinesia), and three had catatonia. In 63 case reports / series included, 72 patients with non-psychosis symptoms were reported, which were catatonia (n=30), dystonia or dyskinesia (n=17), cholinergic rebound (n=11), serotonin syndrome (n=4), mania (n=3), insomnia (n=3), neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) n=3, one of them had both catatonia and NMS, and de novo obsessive compulsive symptoms (n=2). Restarting clozapine appeared to be the most effective treatment.
Conclusions: Non-psychosis symptoms following clozapine withdrawal have important clinical implications. Clinicians should be aware of the possible presentations of symptoms to ensure early recognition and management. Further research is warranted to better characterise the prevalence, risk factors, prognosis, and optimal drug dosing for each withdrawal symptom.
Objective:
To provide a rapid clinical update on the evidence for telehealth in mental healthcare in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic public health measures.
Conclusions:
Telehealth has been ...rapidly implemented in metropolitan and rural settings and the existing evidence base demonstrates that it represents an effective mode of service delivery.
Objective: To systematically review case reports of psychosis related to withdrawal or overdose of baclofen, which is a gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) B agonist.
Methods: PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, and ...PsychINFO were searched to identify articles related to psychosis secondary to withdrawal or overdose of baclofen using the terms 'baclofen' and ' psychosis'. Comparisons were made between cases in terms of concomitant antipsychotic use, diagnosis of delirium, and evidence of association. Quality of case reports was assessed using the CARE Case Report Guidelines checklist.
Results: In total, 34 patients from 28 case reports were reviewed. Twenty-three patients experienced psychosis upon baclofen withdrawal; among them, 18 had resolution of psychosis upon reinitiation of baclofen, whereas antipsychotic monotherapy was less successful (only four of eight patients responded). An additional baclofen withdrawal period led to recurrence of psychotic symptoms in four of seven patients. Eleven patients had psychosis on induction or after overdose of baclofen; among them, four patients had resolution of psychosis upon cessation of baclofen. The mean quality of the case reports was 6.4 of 13.
Conclusion: Considering its GABAergic agonism, along with evidence of psychosis on induction or withdrawal, baclofen may have some antipsychotic and pro-psychotic properties.
Objectives:
To provide a clinical update for general psychiatrists on the assessment and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), highlighting current issues regarding epidemiology, risk factors and ...pathophysiology from recent relevant research findings.
Conclusions:
Psychiatrists can apply their skills and training in the diagnosis of AD, which is based upon a comprehensive assessment comprising history, investigations, and cognitive and functional assessment, guided by accepted diagnostic criteria.
Objective:
This paper discusses issues arising from the rapid implementation of metropolitan telepsychiatry in private practice during the Covid-19 public health emergency.
Conclusions:
The ...relatively rapid uptake of private practice metropolitan telepsychiatry may further increase flexibility of the options for appointments through ongoing broad telepsychiatry access after the Covid-19 crisis. Telepsychiatry can be used to facilitate the temporary provision of psychiatric care, and has benefits and risks, but is not a longer-term replacement for the interpersonal richness of face-to-face consultations.
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