Academic and healthcare institutions may use this framework to guide the development of a half-day mentoring workshop into their education programs.

BackgroundAs vitamin D may have a neuroprotective effect, the authors studied the association of biomarkers of vitamin D status and delirium to see if low vitamin D status was common in delirium cases.MethodsBiochemical measures of vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D [25-OHD]) and calcium metabolism were used in this retrospective cross-sectional analysis of adult in-patients with delirium, admitted at three Canadian academic hospitals from January 2011 to July 2012. Primary outcome was to determine estimates of the prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in this group in whom vitamin D was checked.ResultsSeventy-one (5.8%) out of 1,232 delirium inpatients had their vitamin D measured. Thirty-nine (55%) showed vitamin D insufficiency (25-OHD of 25-75 nmol/L) and 8 (11%) showed vitamin D deficiency (25-OHD < 25 nmol/L). Mean serum 25-OHD levels were lower in males (57.1±7.7 nmol/L) than in females (78.2±6.1 nmol/L), p = .01, even when controlled for age and season. Men were younger than the women (74.4±2.3 vs. 82.4±1.7, p = .005). Mean age was 78.7±1.5 years, and 33 (47%) were male.ConclusionsAlthough vitamin D is rarely checked during delirium workup and/or management, high rates of hypovitaminosis D were found to be common in the delirium in-patients in whom it was checked. Larger studies would be needed to estimate the prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in delirium and whether hypovitaminosis D plays a role in the pathogenesis of delirium.

No abstract

The authors examined the frequency of neuroimaging findings of cortical atrophy and/or cerebrovascular disease in patients with delirium with hypovitaminosis D and normal vitamin D levels. Of 32 patients with delirium with hypovitaminosis D who were neuroimaged, 91.4% had neuroimaging findings, despite only five cases having a comorbid diagnosis of dementia. Similar frequencies of cortical atrophy and/or cerebrovascular disease were found in patients with delirium with normal vitamin D levels. Further research with a larger sample size is needed to compare neuroimaging findings between normal patients and patients with hypovitaminosis D with delirium.

Implications for best practice• The discussion and critical analyses of book covers present excellent opportunities for teacher librarian and subject teacher collaboration in secondary school settings. • Theoretical approaches to teen and young adult fiction can easily complement practitioner-based approaches. • Using a variety of editions of books with different covers within the school or classroom library allow students to explore book selection choices and cultural assumptions surrounding the marketing of books for children and young people. • Teacher librarian and subject teacher collaboration endorse the learning goals of the Australian Curriculum for critical and creative thinking, personal and social capability and literacy as well as all proficiencies of AITSL Standards for Teacher Librarian Practice.

BackgroundHypovitaminosis D is unrecognized and remarkably common in geriatric patients, with various clinical manifestations. The purpose of this study was to prospectively assess the vitamin D (VD) status in newly admitted psychogeriatric patients, and to study the correlation of VD status with indicators of calcium metabolism.MethodsA valid VD sample, as measured by serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD), was obtained from nine consecutive psycogeriatric inpatients (66% women), during a one-month period in 2011. The Research Ethics Boards at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton approved this project.ResultsAll participants showed VD inadequacy (defined as 25-OHD ≤ 75 nmol/L) with a mean level of serum 25-OHD of 45.5 ± 14.6 (range 28.5–73.4) nmol/L. None of the patients in the sample met criteria for VD deficiency (currently defined by expert consensus as 25-OHD < 25 nmol/L). Mean serum VD levels were lower in females (38.8 ± 9.8 nmol/L) than in males (59.0 ± 14.3 nmol/L), p = .03. Magnesium and PTH were both higher in females (p = .03 and .02, respectively). Univariate linear regression analysis showed that VD levels were strongly negatively associated with magnesium (p = .001) and PTH (p = .02).ConclusionSince research links VD deficiency to psychiatric conditions, high rates of insufficiency in this population is very common and routine supplements are strongly suggested, regardless of patients’ living environment.

"I don't know how you do it all?!" This is an all too familiar question I get as a female psychiatry resident and mother of two small children. When I am asked this question, I always think that I have only done what most other women in my training program have done and that I am not unique. Yet, there is something very challenging about balancing the demands of so many different roles during training. In answering this question, I realize that I have benefitted greatly from watching my female mentors balance these multiple roles themselves, and it is mentoring that has most facilitated my academic and personal successes. However, I did not find my mentors until later in my residency training. In the third year, I met my first mentor who showed me that it was possible to publish scholarly work, be an effective clinician, and raise a family. In other words, she offered potential "solutions" to the work-life balance conundrum. My experience with mentoring has been so significant that it has inspired me to learn more about how to facilitate this important relationship for other female trainees in psychiatry.As someone who is embarking on a career as a junior faculty member at an academic institution, it is disheartening to see the Association of American Medical Colleges' statistics showing that despite many years of gender parity in medical school enrolment (47.1 % of medical school students were female vs. 52.9 % male in 2012), only 19 % of full professors are female [1]. A recent qualitative study of women who left academic institutions confirmed that the difficulty with work-life balance was a factor in the decision to leave [2].Since taking on the roles of both mother and resident, I have struggled with my own feelings of frustration over worklife balance pressures. The inevitable "trade-offs" often mean that I will miss out on something, such as last year when I could not attend a conference because I did not want to travel on a long flight with an infant and this year when I missed seeing my son take his first steps while I was on call.Bogan and Safer discussed the work-life balance issues specific to women psychiatry trainees in a special issue of Academic Psychiatry devoted to women's professional development and offer reasons why these figure so prominently in a trainee's life. During residency, many women choose to have children, and work-family balance becomes especially salient. A female resident may have less flexibility to pursue scholarly activities outside of the training curriculum, activities that are not only enriching but also required for a position at an academic center. Many residents lack the financial resources to obtain outside help with childcare and other household needs and may therefore be required to devote more time to domestic activities after working hours [3]. More than 10 years after this special edition of Academic Psychiatry, these same challenges remain for women trainees, and my own experiences reflect this ongoing struggle.I feel that I am proof that mentorship represents o...

Preferences for the delivery of department-led mentorship programs are important to understanding and closing the gap between mentorship need and mentorship actualization. The objective of this paper is to, therefore, describe the perceived needs and barriers to mentorship in a postgraduate psychiatry program through separate mixed-methods surveys for psychiatry residents and health sciences faculty at a Canadian University. The surveys explored (1) the prevalence of mentorship, (2) barriers to adequate mentorship, and (3) program initiatives that could address these barriers. Qualitative responses were analyzed using an inductive analytic approach. The results of both surveys revealed that while psychiatry residents and faculty believed mentorship to be important for career success, fewer than half of residents (33%) or faculty (47%) reported receiving mentorship in the department. Residents and faculty ranked lack of exposure to mentorship, and lack of time as their top barrier to mentorship, respectively. The following components of a mentorship program were described as ideal: (1) the ability to choose one's own mentor, (2) training sessions for mentors, and (3) faculty mentoring webpage profiles to facilitate the matching of interests. Respondents suggested that mentoring program developers should foster a culture encouraging mentorship, seek mentors outside of regular program-related supervision, allow mentees to choose a mentor, and establishing structure, through aligning expectations and goal setting in mentoring relationships. There is a gap between desire for mentorship and actualization. Program developers in psychiatry medical education may choose to incorporate these findings to enhance mentorship.