Simulation-based ongoing professional practice evaluation in psychiatry: a novel tool for performance assessment.

BACKGROUND: Ongoing professional practice evaluation (OPPE) activities consist of a quantitative, competency-based evaluation of clinical performance. Hospitals must design assessments that measure clinical competencies, are scalable, and minimize impact on the clinician's daily routines. A psychiatry department at a large academic medical center designed and implemented an interactive Web-based psychiatric simulation focusing on violence risk assessment as a tool for a departmentwide OPPE. METHODS: Of 412 invited clinicians in a large psychiatry department, 410 completed an online simulation in April-May 2012. Participants received scheduled e-mail reminders with instructions describing how to access the simulation. Using the Computer Simulation Assessment Tool, participants viewed an introductory video and were then asked to conduct a risk assessment, acting as a clinician in the encounter by selecting actions from a series of drop-down menus. Each action was paired with a corresponding video segment of a clinical encounter with a standardized patient. Participants were scored on the basis of their actions within the simulation (Measure 1) and by their responses to the open-ended questions in which they were asked to integrate the information from the simulation in a summative manner (Measure 2). RESULTS: Of the 410 clinicians, 381 (92.9%) passed Measure 1,359 (87.6%) passed Measure 2, and 5 (1.2%) failed both measures. Seventy-five (18.3%) participants were referred for focused professional practice evaluation (FPPE) after failing either Measure 1, Measure 2, or both. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, Web-based simulation and e-mail engagement tools were a scalable and efficient way to assess a large number of clinicians in OPPE and to identify those who required FPPE.

Discriminant and concurrent validity of a simplified DSM-based structured diagnostic instrument for the assessment of autism spectrum disorders in youth and young adults.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the concurrent and discriminant validity of a brief DSM-based structured diagnostic interview for referred individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). METHODS: To test concurrent validity, we assessed the structured interview's agreement in 123 youth with the expert clinician assessment and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). Discriminant validity was examined using 1563 clinic-referred youth. RESULTS: The structured diagnostic interview and SRS were highly sensitive indicators of the expert clinician assessment. Equally strong was the agreement between the structured interview and SRS. We found evidence for high specificity for the structured interview. CONCLUSIONS: A simplified DSM-based ASD structured diagnostic interview could serve as a useful diagnostic aid in the assessment of subjects with ASDs in clinical and research settings.

Interactive home telehealth and burns: A pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to review our experience incorporating Interactive Home Telehealth (IHT) visits into follow-up burn care. METHODS: A retrospective review of all burn patients participating in IHT encounters over the course of 15 months was performed. Connections were established through secure video conferencing and call-routing software. Patients connected with a personal computer or tablet and providers connected with a desktop computer with a high-definition web camera. In some cases, high-definition digital images were emailed to the provider prior to the virtual consultation. For each patient, the following was collected: (1) patient and injury demographics (diagnosis, prognosis, and clinical management), (2) total number of encounters, (3) service for each encounter (burn, psychiatry, and rehabilitation), (4) length of visit, including travel distance and time saved and, (5) complications, including re-admissions and connectivity issues. RESULTS: 52 virtual encounters were performed with 31 patients during the first year of the pilot project from March 2015 to June 2016. Mean age of the participant was 44 years (range 18-83 years). Mean total burn surface area of the participant was 12% (range 1-80%). Average roundtrip travel distance saved was 188 miles (range 4-822 miles). Average round trip travel time saved was 201min (range 20-564min). There were no unplanned re-admissions and no complications. Five connectivity issues were reported, none of which prevented completion of the visit. CONCLUSIONS: Interactive Home Telehealth is a safe and feasible modality for delivering follow-up care to burn patients. Burn care providers benefit from the potential to improve outpatient clinic utilization. Patients benefit from improved access to multiple members of their specialized burn care team, as well as cost-reductions for patient travel expenses. Future studies are needed to ensure patient and provider satisfaction and to further validate the significance, cost-effectiveness and safety.

Practical Issues in Delivery of Clinician-to-Patient Telemental Health in an Academic Medical Center.

BACKGROUND: In the age of online communication, psychiatric care can now be provided via videoconferencing technologies. While virtual visits as a part of telepsychiatry and telemental health provide a highly efficient and beneficial modality of care, the implementation of virtual visits requires attention to quality and safety issues. As practitioners continue to utilize this technology, issues of clinician licensing, treatment outcomes of virtual visits versus in-person visits, and cost offset require ongoing study. METHODS: This review provides an overview of the topics of technology, legal and regulatory issues, clinical issues, and cost savings as they relate to practicing psychiatry and psychology via virtual visits in an academic medical center. We review the telepsychiatry/telemental health effectiveness literature from 2013 to the present. Our literature searches used the following terms: telemental health effective, telepsychiatry effective, telepsychiatry efficacy, and telemental health efficacy. These searches produced 58 articles, reduced to 16 when including only articles that address effectiveness of clinician-to-patient services. RESULTS: The technological, legal, and regulatory issues vary from state to state and over time. The emerging research addressing diverse populations and disorders provides strong evidence for the effectiveness of telepsychiatry. Cost savings are difficult to precisely determine and depend on the scope of the cost and benefit measured. CONCLUSION: Establishing a telepsychiatry program requires a comprehensive approach with up-to-date legal and technological considerations.

Assessment of cognitive domains during treatment with OROS methylphenidate in adolescents with ADHD.

AIM: To psychometrically assess cognitive domains in adolescents with ADHD during long-term open treatment with robust dosing of extended-release methylphenidate (OROS MPH). METHODS: Data were derived from a prospective clinical study of adolescent ADHD, employing the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), before and after up to one year of treatment with OROS MPH. In the absence of placebo control, a similar age and gender group of youth without ADHD served as comparators. RESULTS: During the course of treatment with OROS MPH, ADHD youth's performance significantly improved across multiple CANTAB tasks, including spatial working memory, rapid visual processing, verbal recognition memory, set shifting, and inhibition/vigilance. ADHD subjects' scores in several CANTAB tasks, including spatial working memory, planning, and set shifting, were significantly more impaired at baseline compared to the non-ADHD comparison group; these significant differences were no longer seen at endpoint. CONCLUSIONS: Statistically significant improvements in multiple cognitive domains were observed in a sample of adolescents with ADHD over the course of 12 months of robust treatment with extended-release methylphenidate. Rigorous, monitored stimulant treatment may be associated with objectively determined cognitive benefits; however, practice effects in this open trial cannot be ruled out. Further study on this important topic is warranted.

Interprofessional differences in disposition decisions: results from a standardized web-based patient assessment.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined differences in disposition decisions among mental health professionals using a standardized Web-based simulation. METHODS: Using a Web-based simulation that described, across users, the same complex psychiatric patient, credentialed clinicians in a psychiatry department conducted a violence risk assessment and selected a level of follow-up care. RESULTS: Of 410 clinicians who completed the simulation, 60% of psychiatrists were more likely than other types of clinicians to select higher levels of care (inpatient or emergency services) for the standardized virtual patient (odds ratio=2.67, 95% confidence interval=1.67-4.25), even after adjustment for other factors. Virtual actions taken, such as contracting with the patient for safety and discussing hospitalization, elucidated these training differences. CONCLUSIONS: Training backgrounds were important determinants of clinicians' actions and the dispositions they recommended for a psychiatric patient at high risk of self-harm and harm to others in the educational setting and may suggest the need for further training to standardize and optimize care.

The effects of lisdexamfetamine dimesylate on driving behaviors in young adults with ADHD assessed with the Manchester driving behavior questionnaire.

PURPOSE: Young adults with ADHD have been shown to be at increased risk for impairment in driving behaviors. Although stimulant medications have proven efficacy in reducing ADHD symptomatology, there is limited knowledge as to their effects on driving behavior. The focus of this report is on assessing the impact of lisdexamfetamine dimesylate (LDX) on driving behaviors in young adults with ADHD using a validated driving behavior questionnaire. METHODS: This assessment was carried out in the context of a randomized, double-blind, 6-week, placebo-controlled, parallel-design study of LDX versus placebo. Subjects were 61 outpatients of both sexes, 18-26 years of age, who met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition, criteria for ADHD. Subjects were randomized to receive LDX or placebo for 6 weeks. Driving behavior was assessed at baseline and at the end of treatment using a U.S. version of the Manchester Driving Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ). RESULTS: Highly significant improvements were documented on LDX, over placebo, in driving behaviors assessed through the DBQ in measures of driving errors, driving lapses, and a trend toward fewer driving violations. There were no meaningful associations between these DBQ results and previously documented changes in a laboratory driving simulation paradigm or with improvement in symptoms of ADHD assessed through the ADHD rating scale. CONCLUSIONS: LDX treatment was associated with significant improvements in self-reported driving behaviors that were independent of improvement in symptoms of ADHD. These results suggest that LDX may reduce behaviors associated with driving risks in young adults with ADHD.

The effects of lisdexamfetamine dimesylate on the driving performance of young adults with ADHD: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study using a validated driving simulator paradigm.

Young adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have been shown to be at increased risk for impairment in driving behaviors. While stimulant medications have proven efficacy in reducing ADHD symptomatology, there is limited knowledge as to their effects on driving impairment. The main aim of this study was to assess the impact of lisdexamfetamine dimesylate (LDX) on driving performance in young adults with ADHD using a validated driving simulation paradigm. This was a randomized, double-blind, 6-week, placebo-controlled, parallel-design study of LDX vs. a placebo on driving performance in a validated driving simulation paradigm. Subjects were sixty-one outpatients of both sexes, 18-26 years of age, who met DSM-IV criteria for ADHD. Subjects were randomized to receive LDX or placebo after a baseline driving simulation and completed a second driving simulation six weeks after beginning drug or placebo. Examination of reaction time across five surprise events at post-treatment showed a significant positive effect of medication status. LDX treatment was also associated with significantly fewer accidents vs. placebo. LDX treatment was associated with significantly faster reaction times and a lower rate of simulated driving collisions than placebo. These results suggest that LDX may reduce driving risks in young adults with ADHD.