Search the hub
Showing results for tags 'Mental health'.
Found 1,161 results
-
Content ArticleWe all can experience mental health problems, whatever our background or walk of life. But the risk of experiencing mental ill-health is not equally distributed across our society. Those who face the greatest disadvantages in life also face the greatest risk to their mental health. The distribution of infections and deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic, the lockdown and associated measures, and the longer-term socioeconomic impact are likely to reproduce and intensify the financial inequalities that contribute towards the increased prevalence and unequal distribution of mental ill-health.
-
Content Article
Understanding the needs of youth during the COVID-19 crisis
Claire Cox posted an article in Blogs
While COVID-19 coverage has been saturated with news of clinical cases, deaths, hospital shortages, and financial losses, it seems as though a key population has been excluded from the concern. The youth and young adult population, of all ethnicities and backgrounds, have not had the proper attention to their needs as other groups impacted by COVID-19 have. Particularly, these populations are at risk of severe mental health distress due to COVID-19 related financial, academic, and housing instability. -
Content Article
Patient safety and maternal mental health during covid
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Mental health
Patient Safety Learning interviews Jules Mckoy, a Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Midwife. In this interview, Jules highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting on the mental health of women during their pregnancy and after birth. She describes some of the ways they are trying to alleviate anxiety locally and raises concerns about the longer term implications of a rise in postnatal depression. -
Content ArticleThe rapid transmission of COVID-19 has resulted in an international pandemic with the cumulative death rate expected to further escalate in the months to come. The majority of deaths to date (May 2020) have been highly concentrated in certain geographic areas, placing tremendous stress on local healthcare systems and associated workforces. Healthcare is a fundamentally human endeavor; its reliability and the capacity to provide it are tested under stressful conditions and the COVID-19 pandemic is proving to be an especially difficult test for healthcare systems. Consideration of the humanness of care in the broader context of patient safety can raise awareness of how human weaknesses impact individual clinicians and care teams in ways that could degrade patient safety and quality of care and increase risk for both patients with COVID-19 and the staffs that care for them. These weaknesses are exacerbated by fatigue and burnout, absence of team trust, lack of time, medical illness, and poor psychological safety, each of which can result in reduced performance and contribute to failures such as misdiagnoses and adverse events. This article published on AHRQ's PSNet explores these weaknesses.
-
Content ArticleWatch as Dr Donna Prosser is joined by a panel of experts to discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting mental health across the globe and share some tips for effectively managing these challenges.
-
Content ArticleThis study, published in Health Services and Delivery Research, found the patient experience feedback cycle was rarely completed, and despite diverse approaches to gathering feedback in inpatient settings, approaches to analysing and using this information remain underdeveloped.
-
Content ArticleThe Royal College of Midwives has put together an infographic of some of the common stresses that mothers and those working in maternity services may be experiencing and some strategies to help you cope.
-
Content Article
COVID-19 tests: The safety implications of false negatives
PatientSafetyLearning Team posted an article in Blogs
The number of people accessing COVID-19 testing in the UK continues to increase. Health Secretary, Matt Hancock recently announced, that anyone over the age of five years old who is showing symptoms is eligible for a test [1]. However, there are concerns that the rate of ‘false negative’ test results could be as high as 30% and a significant number of people are wrongly being told they do not have the virus [2]. This could be due to the particularly difficult nature of obtaining the swab, which requires someone to take a sample from the very back of the mouth or deep from inside the nose. “Swabbing patients using the correct technique is paramount in ensuring an accurate result. Nasal swabs need to be taken from far back in the nasal pharynx and is often uncomfortable for the patient. By simply swabbing the inside of the nasal passage is not deep enough to verify that the virus is present. I am unsure that all clinical staff have been taught the correct way to swab patients.” Claire Cox, Intensive Care Outreach Nurse. Members of the public are now able to request self-testing kits to do at home if they are experiencing symptoms. If clinicians like Claire are finding the test challenging to perform on others, it is likely that patients could struggle to swab deep enough into their own nasal pharynx (7-8cm). There is a risk that as the number of people testing themselves increases, so too will the rate of false negative results. Testing is a key element of the UK’s COVID-19 infection control strategy [3]. A high, and potentially rising, rate of false negative results means that a significant number of people could be carrying the virus, wrongly reassured they are not infectious. In this blog, we look at some of the associated safety risks. -
Content Article
AQuA: Suicide prevention toolkit (May 2017)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Suicide and self-harm
This toolkit from the Advancing Quality Alliance (AQuA)is for anyone involved in designing, delivering, providing or commissioning suicide prevention services/support. The aims of this toolkit are to share information on mental health services/support, considering what ‘good’ looks like, and to provide an approach to implementing high quality/effective mental health services/support. -
Content ArticlePatients in inpatient mental health settings face similar risks (e.g., medication errors) to those in other areas of healthcare. In addition, some unsafe behaviours associated with serious mental health problems (e.g., self-harm), and the measures taken to address these (e.g., restraint), may result in further risks to patient safety. The objective of this review from Thibaut et al., published in BMJ Open, was to identify and synthesise the literature on patient safety within inpatient mental health settings using robust systematic methodology. The authors found that patient safety in inpatient mental health settings is under-researched in comparison to other non-mental health inpatient settings. Findings demonstrate that inpatient mental health settings pose unique challenges for patient safety, which require investment in research, policy development, and translation into clinical practice.
-
Content Article
'False negative' and the impact on my mental health
Anonymous posted an article in Blogs
The following blog was shared by a patient who wished to remain anonymous. In this account, they explain why they felt they were treated differently when they presented with symptoms of Covid-19 due to their mental health difficulties. They also describe how receiving a false negative test result caused further harm to their mental health. -
Content ArticleHow will the coronavirus pandemic affect the nation’s mental health? Covid-19 and the nation’s mental health: Forecasting needs and risks in the UK is the first assessment from the Centre for Mental Health of the likely impacts of COVID-19 on mental health in Britain. It uses evidence from previous epidemics internationally and from the aftermath of the 2008 banking crisis to estimate what effect COVID-19 will have on mental health at population level in the UK.
-
Content ArticleModule 13 of the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) patient safety education programme.
-
Content Article
Rethink Mental Illness: COVID-19 and mental illness
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Mental health
The charity Rethink Mental Illness have set up an online hub to provide practical support and information that is useful for people living with, or supporting people with mental illness during the coronavirus pandemic. -
Content ArticleTips, advice and guidance on where you can get support for your mental health during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. If you’re worried about the impact of coronavirus on your mental health, you are not alone. The COVID-19 pandemic is a new and uncertain time for all of us and will affect our mental health in different ways. However you are feeling right now is valid. With the right help and support, we can get through this. Here is you will find advice from Young Minds on things you can do to keep mentally healthy during this time.
-
Content ArticleMental Health UK has provided information and tips for managing your mental health during the coronavirus pandemic. Whether you're social distancing or self-isolating you may be feeling anxious or stressed during this time, and that's completely normal. There are simple steps you can take to look after your mental health and wellbeing.
-
Content ArticleThe Children’s Commissioner’s Office is concerned about the limitations in support offered to new families under lockdown, the reductions in contact with health visitors, and the inability to maintain birth registers. In this briefing paper, they highlight the need for policymakers to put families with young children, and especially those with newborns, at the heart of coronavirus planning. It shows that the risks to babies and young children can be reduced if the government and services think creatively to find ways to bring vital support to new parents, and takes proactive steps to ensure that different agencies routinely share data on these children – now more important than ever.
-
Content ArticleA patient shares her story of how catastrophic complications from a hysterectomy has changed her life forever.
- Posted
- 1 comment
-
- (and 4 more)
-
Content ArticleMarginalised groups (‘populations outside of mainstream society’) experience severe health inequities, as well as increased risk of experiencing patient safety incidents. To date however no review exists to identify, map and analyse the literature in this area in order to understand 1) which marginalised groups have been studied in terms of patient safety research, 2) what the particular patient safety issues are for such groups and 3) what contributes to or is associated with these safety issues arising. This review from Cheraghi-Sohi et al. in the International Journal for Equity in Health highlights that marginalised patient groups are vulnerable to experiencing a variety patient safety issues and points to a number of gaps. The findings indicate the need for further research to understand the intersectional nature of marginalisation and the multi-dimensional nature of patient safety issues, for groups that have been under-researched, including those with mental health problems, communication and cognitive impairments.
-
Content ArticleDr James Reed, CCIO, Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, presented at the recent Bevan Brittan Patient Safety Seminar. As one of the Mental Health & Global Digital Exemplars, James discussed how his trust has implemented innovative digital technology to improve patient observations on the ward. His presentation slides are attached.
-
Content ArticlePatients in inpatient mental health settings face similar risks (eg, medication errors) to those in other areas of healthcare. In addition, some unsafe behaviours associated with serious mental health problems (eg, self-harm), and the measures taken to address these (eg, restraint), may result in further risks to patient safety. The objective of this review, published in BMJ Open, is to identify and synthesise the literature on patient safety within inpatient mental health settings using robust systematic methodology.
-
Content Article
INQUEST: Skills and support toolkit
Claire Cox posted an article in Prison setting
The INQUEST Skills and Support Toolkit is a resource for families and friends dealing with the aftermath of a death in custody and detention. The skills toolkit has been directed by the thoughts and experiences of INQUEST’s family reference group. The group includes a number of families whose relative has died in police custody or following police contact, prison custody, an immigration removal centre and a psychiatric setting. -
Content Article
Inside the eating disordered mind (August 2018)
Claire Cox posted an article in Eating disorders
Eating disorders are complex and affect all kinds of people. Risk factors for all eating disorders involve a range of biological, psychological, and sociocultural issues. These factors may interact differently in different people, so two people with the same eating disorder can have very diverse perspectives, experiences, and symptoms. Still, researchers have found broad similarities in understanding some of the major risks for developing eating disorders. -
Content Article
What is orthorexia?
Claire Cox posted an article in Social care
Although not formally recognised in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, awareness about orthorexia is on the rise. The term ‘orthorexia’ was coined in 1998 and means an obsession with proper or ‘healthful’ eating. Although being aware of and concerned with the nutritional quality of the food you eat isn’t a problem in and of itself, people with orthorexia become so fixated on so-called ‘healthy eating’ that they actually damage their own well-being. Without formal diagnostic criteria, it’s difficult to get an estimate on precisely how many people have orthorexia, and whether it’s a stand-alone eating disorder, a type of existing eating disorder like anorexia, or a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Studies have shown that many individuals with orthorexia also have obsessive-compulsive disorder. This web page describes: The signs and symptoms of orthorexia Health implications Treatment -
Content Article
Bitter pill – A paramedic's tale
Anonymous posted an article in Florence in the Machine
What impact does working on the frontline in healthcare have on your own mental health? How do you cope with the daily traumatic events you see at work and then go home and care for your family? What happens when you start to feel out of control? In this blog, a paramedic recounts their feelings and fear when things started to get out of control at work and at home, describing the symptoms of 'moral injury', and how talking openly to colleagues, their line-manager and to a counsellor helped them to recover.
