Investigating the impact of a psychoanalytic nursing development group within an adolescent psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU)

Objective To evaluate the impact of an adapted psychoanalytic work discussion group for mental health nurses working in adolescent PICU. Background There is no prior research investigating interventions that effectively support and enable adolescent PICU nursing teams to sustain the therapeutic tasks of their work and their own sense of wellbeing. Methods A bespoke psychoanalytic work discussion group was implemented within an adolescent PICU. Data was collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews with participants, about the impact of the group upon their practice. Data analysis used thematic analysis. Results The group positively impacted upon participant knowledge and understanding, emotion management, personal efficacy, therapeutic relationship building, managing challenging behaviour, leadership, professional identity and team cohesion. Conclusion Mechanisms by which these outcomes were achieved are elaborated utilising the concepts of projective identification, emotional containment and ‘temporary outsider-ship’. There is a need to account for the interplay between adolescent defense mechanisms, nursing anxieties and setting-specific organisational dynamics, in the design of effective support interventions for adolescent mental health nurses

The distribution of the apparent diffusion coefficient as an indicator of the response to chemotherapeutics in ovarian tumour xenografts

Cancer Council of Queensland and a mobility grant (Personalized Medicine) from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

Follow-up After Pediatric Mental Health Emergency Visits.

OBJECTIVES: To examine how outpatient mental health (MH) follow-up after a pediatric MH emergency department (ED) discharge varies by patient characteristics and to evaluate the association between timely follow-up and return encounters. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of 28 551 children aged 6 to 17 years with MH ED discharges from January 2018 to June 2019, using the IBM Watson MarketScan Medicaid database. Odds of nonemergent outpatient follow-up, adjusted for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, were estimated using logistic regression. Cox proportional hazard models were used to evaluate the association between timely follow-up and risk of return MH acute care encounters (ED visits and hospitalizations). RESULTS: Following MH ED discharge, 31.2% and 55.8% of children had an outpatient MH visit within 7 and 30 days, respectively. The return rate was 26.5% within 6 months. Compared with children with no past-year outpatient MH visits, those with ≥14 past-year MH visits had 9.53 odds of accessing follow-up care within 30 days (95% confidence interval [CI], 8.75-10.38). Timely follow-up within 30 days was associated with a 26% decreased risk of return within 5 days of the index ED discharge (hazard ratio, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.63-0.91), followed by an increased risk of return thereafter. CONCLUSIONS: Connection to outpatient care within 7 and 30 days of a MH ED discharge remains poor, and children without prior MH outpatient care are at highest risk for poor access to care. Interventions to link to outpatient MH care should prioritize follow-up within 5 days of an MH ED discharge