What Do Primary Care Doctors Get Out of a Year-Long Postgraduate Course in Community Psychological Medicine?

Lam, Tai Pong; Goldberg, David; Tse, Eileen Y.Y.; Lam, Kwok Fai; Mak, KK; Lam, Edmund Wing Wo

doi:10.2190/pm.42.2.c

Cited by 13 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…In fact, these are typical barriers encountered by western medicine primary care doctors too [27]. However, significant improvement in time efficiency (55.8 % before the course vs 72.1 % after) had been reported in our study on mental health course for western medicine doctors [5]. In the future, the teachers of the course should address these practical barriers and share their personal experience with the TCM practitioners to explore possible solutions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…Although there are rising expectations of primary care practitioners dealing with patients’ mental health problems, many of them lack confidence in diagnosing and managing these cases [3, 4]. To improve their competence, some postgraduate training courses have been organized for western medicine primary care doctors and significant impacts were found in different countries [5–8]. The trained doctors recognized more mental health patients compared with those without training [9–11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Five-year outcomes of western mental health training for Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners

Lam

Mak²,

Lam

et al. 2016

BMC Psychiatry

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BackgroundThere are increasing expectations for primary care practitioners to deal with mental health problems. In Hong Kong, 15 % of the general public consult Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners regularly for their primary health care needs. This study investigated the 5-year outcomes of a western mental health training course for TCM practitioners in Hong Kong.MethodStructured questionnaire surveys were conducted to compare the TCM practitioners’ confidence and engagement in mental health care before and after the Course. The data collected during 2011–2015 were analyzed.ResultsA total of 151 TCM practitioners returned both pre- and post-Course questionnaires, with a response rate of 95.6 %. After the course, there were significant increases in the proportions of participants being confident of recognizing patients with psychological problems (62.9 % before the course vs 89.4 % after), diagnosing common mental health problems (47.7 % vs 77.5 %), and managing them (31.2 % vs 64.3 %). Overall, 66.9 % of the participants reported some increase in their confidence in recognizing patients with psychological problems, diagnosing or/and managing patients with common mental health problems. Qualitative responses illustrated the major improvements were increased awareness of mental symptoms, better understanding of classification of mental disorders and management approaches. On the other hand, barriers included difficulties in understanding medical terms in English, consultation time constraints, and a lack of formal referral system to psychiatrists.ConclusionsThe Course has positive impact on TCM practitioners in handling mental health patients. The findings are useful for designing similar trainings on complementary and alternative medicine practitioners in other countries.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-016-1080-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Five-year outcomes of western mental health training for Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners

Lam

Mak²,

Lam

et al. 2016

BMC Psychiatry

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“…Disorderindependent data collection in future studies may provide further useful information. In contrast, after completing training, most respondents were confident in diagnosing (96.9%) and managing (97.0%) mental health problems 9) . Even after short-term mental health training programs, some improvements in physician confidence and skills have been observed 10)11) .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…It also highlights the need for continued research examining the effects of postgraduate psychiatry training for physicians on their management of mental health disorders, although a number of relevant studies are currently available 7) . Previous studies included a cross-sectional study in 134 general practitioners in Australia 8) ; a smaller intervention study of a one-year postgraduate training program in Hong Kong 9) ; and several additional intervention studies on short-term (12-or 20-hour) mental health training programs for general practitioners in Australia 10) 11) . These studies reported some associations between mental health training and primary care physician confidence and competency, but did not evaluate any disorder-specific associations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Postgraduate Psychiatry Training and Associated Greater Self-Rated Competence in Primary Care Physicians in Internal Medicine in Managing Mental Health Disorders in Japan

Itoh

Takamura

Yokoyama

2015

Juntendo Medical Journal

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Objective: Despite the key role primary care physicians play in suicide prevention in Japan, successfully managing psychiatric disorders associated with suicide remains a challenge for healthcare practitioners. Postgraduate psychiatry training may be one way to improve the self-rated competence of primary care physicians and their ability to successfully manage these disorders.Previous studies have reported associations between mental health training and greater levels of physician confidence and skill; however, these associations have not been made in reference to specific mental disorders. Our study examined and provided quantitative, disorder-specific associations between postgraduate psychiatry training and confidence levels of primary care internal medicine physicians in managing different mental health disorders. The associations between postgraduate training and the capability of physicians to manage patients with mental health disorders were also evaluated. Design: Cross-sectional study Methods: Questionnaires were sent to 4,030 private clinics in Japan. After excluding responses from those working in non-private clinics and those without an internal medicine specialty, 544 responses were included in the analysis. Outcome data were measured by respondent self-report. Adjusted odds ratios of confidence and skillfulness in the management of various psychiatric disorders were calculated.Results: Experience of postgraduate psychiatry training was significantly associated with greater physician confidence levels in identifying, treating, and following-up of many psychiatric disorders (including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder). Training was also significantly associated with greater self-evaluated competency in providing patient education, psychological therapy, and specialist referrals. Conclusions:Postgraduate psychiatric training may be important in developing primary care physician self-rated competence in managing psychiatric disorders.

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“…Over 180 doctors have been trained between 2002 and 2010. A recent evaluative study showed that the Course was effective to improve their confidence, attitudes and skills in management and referrals (Lam et al, 2011). We believe these doctors would continue to play a significant role in mental healthcare in the community.…”

Section: Dear Editorsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Developing primary care psychiatry in the Asia‐Pacific

Lam

Mak

2012

Asia-Pacific Psychiatry

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What Do Primary Care Doctors Get Out of a Year-Long Postgraduate Course in Community Psychological Medicine?

Cited by 13 publications

References 27 publications

Five-year outcomes of western mental health training for Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners

Five-year outcomes of western mental health training for Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners

Postgraduate Psychiatry Training and Associated Greater Self-Rated Competence in Primary Care Physicians in Internal Medicine in Managing Mental Health Disorders in Japan

Developing primary care psychiatry in the Asia‐Pacific

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