Outcomes for collaborative care versus routine care in the management of postpartum depression.

BACKGROUND: Even with routine screening, women diagnosed with postpartum depression (PPD) often experience delays in treatment with consequences affecting mother, infant, families and communities. A collaborative care management (CCM) approach may provide more timely, effective and higher quality of care for women suffering from postpartum depression. AIMS: This study compared the outcomes of women diagnosed with depression within a year of giving birth, comparing management using a collaborative care model with routine primary care. METHODS: In a retrospective quantitative cohort pilot study (n = 78), the outcomes of days to first follow-up, one-year healthcare utilisation, remission rates and other quality metrics were investigated. RESULTS: Those who were managed with CCM had fewer days to first follow-up (6.1 versus 31.4; P < 0.01), were more likely to meet the quality metrics of three or more related contacts in the three months after diagnosis (P < 0.01), and had documented Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) or Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) measurements at 3 (P < 0.01), 6 (P < 0.01) and 12 (P < 0.01) months. With an intention to treat model, 6-month remission rates were improved with CCM (46.7 vs. 6.3%, P <0.01). Those managed collaboratively versus routinely used healthcare in the year following diagnosis at similar rates. CONCLUSIONS: A CCM model offers timelier and higher quality care to women suffering from PPD, without contributing to higher healthcare utilisation.

Students as resurrectionists--A multimodal humanities project in anatomy putting ethics and professionalism in historical context.

Because medical students have many different learning styles, the authors, medical students at Mayo Clinic, College of Medicine researched the history of anatomical specimen procurement, reviewing topic-related film, academic literature, and novels, to write, direct, and perform a dramatization based on Robert Louis Stevenson's The Body-Snatcher. Into this performance, they incorporated dance, painting, instrumental and vocal performance, and creative writing. In preparation for the performance, each actor researched an aspect of the history of anatomy. These micro-research projects were presented in a lecture before the play. Not intended to be a research study, this descriptive article discusses how student research and ethics discussions became a theatrical production. This addition to classroom and laboratory learning addresses the deep emotional response experienced by some students and provides an avenue to understand and express these feelings. This enhanced multimodal approach to"holistic learning" could be applied to any topic in the medical school curriculum, thoroughly adding to the didactics with history, humanities, and team dynamics.