RESUMO
The significant and ongoing shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists has limited access to mental health care in the pediatric population. In response to this problem, integrated/collaborative care models have been established. These models, as all imperfect things in medicine, have their own set of challenges. A careful ethical analysis of integrated/collaborative care models is essential to protect the social and emotional health and safety of children with mental illness. To this end, ethical assessment supports the use of integrated/collaborative care models, and recent studies have demonstrated the benefits of their implementation.
Assuntos
Prestação Integrada de Cuidados de Saúde , Transtornos Mentais , Serviços de Saúde Mental , Psiquiatria , Adolescente , Criança , Humanos , Transtornos Mentais/terapia , Saúde MentalRESUMO
The Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program is a statewide public mental health initiative designed to provide consultation, care navigation, and education to assist pediatric primary care providers in addressing mental health problems for children and families. To improve program performance, adapt to changes in the environment of pediatric primary care services, and ensure the program's long-term sustainability, program leadership in consultation with the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health embarked on a process of redesign. The redesign process is described, moving from an initial strategic assessment of program and the planning of structural and functional changes, through transition and implementation.
Assuntos
Psiquiatria Infantil/organização & administração , Prestação Integrada de Cuidados de Saúde/métodos , Serviços de Saúde Mental/organização & administração , Estudos de Casos Organizacionais , Criança , Humanos , Massachusetts , Atenção Primária à Saúde/organização & administração , Avaliação de Programas e Projetos de Saúde , Encaminhamento e ConsultaRESUMO
Evaluations of integrated care programs share many characteristics of evaluations of other complex health system interventions. However, evaluating integrated care for child and adolescent mental health poses special challenges that stem from the broad range of social, emotional, and developmental problems that need to be addressed; the need to integrate care for other family members; and the lack of evidence-based interventions already adapted for primary care settings. Integrated care programs for children's mental health need to adapt and learn on the fly, so that evaluations may best be viewed through the lens of continuous quality improvement rather than evaluations of fixed programs.