The European psychiatric association (EPA) - early career psychiatrists committee survey on trainees' and early-career psychiatrists' attitudes towards therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) use and utility during antipsychotic treatment.

OBJECTIVES: This survey assessed psychiatry residents'/early-career psychiatrists' attitudes towards the utility of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of antipsychotics. METHODS: A previously developed questionnaire on attitudes on TDM utility during antipsychotic treatment was cross-sectionally disseminated by national coordinators between 01/01/2022-31/12/2023. The frequency of using TDM for antipsychotics other than clozapine was the main outcome in a linear regression analysis, including sex, clinical setting, caseload, and factors generated by an exploratory factor analysis. Comparisons between residents and early-career psychiatrists, respondents working in in- and outpatient settings, and low-/middle- and high-income countries were performed. RESULTS: Altogether, 1,237 respondents completed the survey, with 37.9% having never used TDM for antipsychotics. Seven factors explained 41% of response variance; six of them were associated with frequency of TDM use (p < 0.05). Items with highest loadings for factors included clinical benefits of TDM (factors A and E: 0.7), negative expectations for beliefs of patients towards TDM (factor B: 0.6-0.7), weak TDM scientific evidence (factor C: 0.8), and TDM availability (factor D: -0.8). Respondents from low-/middle-income countries were less likely to frequently/almost always use TDM compared to high-income countries (9.4% vs. 21.5%, p < 0.001). DISCUSSION: TDM use for antipsychotics was poor and associated with limited knowledge and insufficient availability.

Report on the 1st and 2nd Japan Young Psychiatrists Organization Online International Networking Meetings (JOIN meetings) in 2021 and 2022.

Since 2002, the Japan Young Psychiatrists Organization (JYPO) has conducted an annual face-to-face Course for Academic Development of Psychiatrists (CADP). Since 2021, we held two international online meetings and studied whether it was possible to acquire professional and leadership skills. We found that participants were able to acquire knowledge and become acquainted with professional and leadership skills in online meetings. However, they didn't enough enable participants to get to know each other, develop friendships, or acquire professional and leadership skills. The advantages of online meetings included lower cost, avoiding infection during the pandemic, and the easy use of course materials.

Coronavirus outbreak from early career psychiatrists' viewpoint: What we have learned so far.

PURPOSE: Since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic several million cases and more than three million deaths have been already confirmed worldwide due to COVID-19. DESIGN AND METHODS: Early Career Psychiatrists from all over the world present an overview of what happened in their own countries and what they have learned so far by this experience in everyday clinical practice. PRACTICE IMPLICATION: We tried to take a real time picture of this unexpected situation, drawing useful hints for now and the future.

Management of psychiatric conditions and delirium during the COVID-19 pandemic across continents: lessons learned and recommendations.

BACKGROUND: With the uncertainties of COVID-19, people infected with coronavirus present with diverse psychiatric presentations. Some institutions have had to manage their patients with existing protocols, others have had to create them. In this article we aimed to report the challenges and good practices in the management of psychiatric conditions and delirium coexisting with COVID-19 across continents. METHODS: Early Career Psychiatrists (ECPs) from across five continents were approached to share their experiences on the management of psychiatric conditions in patients with COVID-19 during the current pandemic. RESULTS: We collected information about the experiences from sixteen countries. Commonalities were similar psychiatric presentations and poor preparedness across countries. Differences were varying adjustments made in the management of psychiatric conditions coexisting with COVID-19 and different innovations. Good practices which can be adopted by other countries are novel approaches such as telepsychiatry, proactive consultation-liaison units and enhanced community services targeted at circumventing challenges faced when providing mental health services. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the need for global preparedness in the mental health sector during outbreaks of infectious diseases, and the need for concerted efforts targeted at global and locally sensitive adaptation of existing protocols and the development of new guidelines for the management of psychiatric conditions for the present pandemic and subsequent occurrences.