The What and the How: A pilot study of feedback from service providers and consumers about service development in new urban mental health hub.

OBJECTIVE: An inner-city hospital purchased a local hotel to provide support, digital engagement, skill development groups and referrals to partner agencies. Being aware of the hotel's importance to the local community, we sought feedback on a model of care relevant to perceived gaps and needs in support for mental health. METHODS: Four online focus groups included healthcare professionals, nominated opinion leaders from local Non-Government Organisations (NGOs), consumers and carers to reflect a range of views. Focus group data were qualitatively analysed. RESULTS: Participants made useful suggestions about WHAT educational, preventative and therapeutic services were needed. They emphasised the importance of HOW people engage with the service, the balance between accessibility and security. Other themes included targeting people with limited health literacy, integration with existing services, building on site heritage and ongoing evaluation of objectives and needs. CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study demonstrated clear support for providing safe and welcoming access to services, with resources and access to services to improve their health and wellbeing built on principles of social justice and inclusion. Participants had constructive ideas of what was needed, and ongoing patient and public research is anticipated.

Effectiveness of Project ECHO Programs in Improving Clinician Knowledge and Confidence in Managing Complex Psychiatric Patients: a Waitlist-Controlled Study.

OBJECTIVE: The authors aimed to determine if Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO), a health-education model utilising teleconferencing technology, improves the capacity of clinicians in assessing and managing complex psychiatric patients. METHODS: Three pilot Project ECHO programs were evaluated as a prospective waitlist-controlled trial, focusing on Adult Eating Disorders, Adult Intellectual Disability Mental Health, and General Mental Health. Each program comprised 9-10 weekly teleconferencing group sessions. Participants and waitlist-controls completed pre- and post-program surveys. The primary outcomes were self-reported knowledge and confidence in assessing and managing complex patients relevant to each group. Linear mixed models were used to assess the group-by-time interaction, or change over time, as appropriate. RESULTS: Between July 2020 and June 2021, three series of the Adult Intellectual Disability Mental Health program, two series of the Adult Eating Disorders program, and two series of the General Mental Health program were delivered. Compared to waitlist-controls (n = 21), there were statistically significant improvements in self-reported knowledge and confidence for all topics amongst participants of the Adult Eating Disorders program (n = 44). In the Adult Intellectual Disability Mental Health program, there were significant improvements in self-reported knowledge and confidence amongst participants (n = 67) for most topics compared to controls (n = 21). There were no waitlist-controls for the General Mental Health program, but within-group analysis (n = 28) showed significant improvements in participants' knowledge and confidence following program completion, compared to baseline. CONCLUSION: Project ECHO is a feasible and effective model to develop workforce capacity in managing complex psychiatric conditions.

What makes a hospital-based psychiatry training program successful? The experience of St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this paper is to describe those features that have contributed to the popularity and success of the psychiatry training program at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, and to discuss the factors that potentially weaken the program and how these might be addressed. CONCLUSIONS: The strengths of the psychiatry training program at St Vincent's Hospital are the high rate of recruitment of junior medical officers to psychiatry training, the provision of quality in-house teaching, the in-house provision of psychotherapy supervision and exam preparation, the positive influence of the chief psychiatry registrar, having enough trainees to alleviate the tension between training and service delivery, and the availability of a variety of 'extra', high-quality, professional development opportunities.