Psychiatric and Mental Health Commons^™

Adverse Events In Veterans Affairs Inpatient Psychiatric Units: Staff Perspectives On Contributing And Protective Factors., Gala True, Rosemary Frasso, Sara W. Cullen, Richard C. Hermann, Steven C. Marcus

College of Population Health Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to identify risk factors and protective factors in hospital-based mental health settings in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), with the goal of informing interventions to improve care of persons with serious mental illness.

METHODS: Twenty key informants from a stratified sample of 7 VHA inpatient psychiatric units were interviewed to gain their insights on causes of patient safety events and the factors that constrain or facilitate patient safety efforts.

RESULTS: Respondents identified threats to patient safety at the system-, provider-, and patient-levels. Protective factors that, when in place, made patient safety events less likely to occur …

Identification Strategies For The Very High Fall Risk Patient In An Acute Inpatient Psychiatric Unit, P6 Inpatient Geri-Med Psychiatry, Haley Pelletier, Suneela Nayak, Stephen Tyzik, Ruth Hanselman

Maine Medical Center

Patients falling as a result of geriatric and psychiatric impairments are at a much higher risk than the average patient population. An acute care inpatient psychiatric team used baseline metrics to demonstrate increasing fall rates per month that surpassed the unit’s target number. As a result, a quality improvement project around falls was felt to be warranted.

The overall goal of this study was to improve patient safety by reducing falls for their very high risk fall population. A root cause analysis determined that this population was not being properly identified and several tools were developed and employed to better …

Serious Mental Illness Among Young Adult Women Who Use Drugs In The Club Scene: Co-Occurring Biopsychosocial Factors, Maayan Lawental, Hilary L. Surratt, Mance E. Buttram, Steven P. Kurtz

Center for Health Services Research Faculty Publications

Young women who regularly attend nightclubs are at risk for numerous health and social consequences, including mental distress, sexual and physical victimization and substance dependence. This paper uses a biopsychosocial framework to examine co-occurring mental health problems, victimization, substance dependence, sexual risk and physical pain among a sample of young women who use drugs (N = 222) in Miami’s club scene. The majority of women were under 24 years old, Hispanic, and identified as heterosexual. Almost all the women reported past 90-day use of alcohol, ecstasy/MDMA, marijuana, cocaine and prescription opioids and benzodiazepines; 32% of women reported being in a …