S093: Community Health
Tracks
Track 1
| Friday, August 28, 2015 |
| 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM |
| Royal Theatre |
Speaker
Claire O'Reilly
Lecturer, Faculty of Pharmacy
The University of Sydney
Depression screening: using community pharmacists to support the early detection of mental health concerns in primary care
Abstract
Pharmacists have a strong primary health care role and, due to their accessibility, are often the first health professional contacted by a consumer with a health concern. Depression is one of the largest causes of disease burden globally but can routinely go undetected in primary care. While diagnosing is not part of a pharmacists’ scope of practice, they can play an important role in identifying possible signs and symptoms of a mental illness. Due to their unique position in the primary health care setting of a community pharmacy, pharmacists have the opportunity to recognise potential psychological distress and there is an opportunity for the pharmacist to have a conversation and discuss what they have noticed and can refer or encourage people to seek further assessment from their GP or other available mental health services. This presentation will give an overview of a feasibility study of Australian community pharmacists performing screening and risk assessment services for depression and to investigate the services’ barriers and facilitators and to assess the feasibility of pharmacists using a screening tool for depression in the community pharmacy setting.
Biography
Dr Claire O’Reilly is a Lecturer at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sydney and a practising community pharmacist. Claire is an experienced mental health researcher with research experience investigating consumers’ experiences of stigma and discrimination in schizophrenia, health professionals’ attitudes towards mental illness, the evaluation of new mental health training and education programs for pharmacists and new roles for pharmacists in mental health care as part of the multidisciplinary team.
Chris Lines
A/Dir. Health Services, Research & Training
NSML / Primary & Community Care Services Ltd
The Hornsby GP Clinic: towards self-management, an integrated approach to physical and mental health care.
Abstract
The National Mental Health Commission (NMHC) and the Mental Health Australia (MHA) have identified improving the physical health of people with mental illness as a priority. The NMHC report’ A Contributing Life: the 2012 National Report Card’ reports that people with severe mental illness live between 10-32 years less than the general population with an overall death rate two and a half times greater and higher rates of physical illnesses, compared to the general population.
This paper will report on the implementation of the novel Hornsby GP Mental Health Clinic; a joint initiative between Northern Sydney Medicare Local (NSML), the Northern Sydney Local Health District and Hornsby GP Unit. The clinic demonstrates good practice in the effective co-ordinated management of physical health care for people with mental illness, and encompasses integrated care that assists mental health consumers access a GP service with the assistance of a mental health trained nurse.
The clinic focusses on the physical health care of consumers of the Hornsby Community Mental Health Service, and is located within the grounds of Hornsby Hospital. The implementation of this model GP ‘clinic’ has implications for providing co-located general practice clinics as special-purpose services located within a public hospital.
This paper will report on the implementation of the novel Hornsby GP Mental Health Clinic; a joint initiative between Northern Sydney Medicare Local (NSML), the Northern Sydney Local Health District and Hornsby GP Unit. The clinic demonstrates good practice in the effective co-ordinated management of physical health care for people with mental illness, and encompasses integrated care that assists mental health consumers access a GP service with the assistance of a mental health trained nurse.
The clinic focusses on the physical health care of consumers of the Hornsby Community Mental Health Service, and is located within the grounds of Hornsby Hospital. The implementation of this model GP ‘clinic’ has implications for providing co-located general practice clinics as special-purpose services located within a public hospital.
Biography
Chris is currently in a leadership role in the primary healthcare sector. He has considerable experience in the disability, community-managed mental health and specialist homelessness sectors. Chris’ interests include the development of recovery-oriented programs, integrated care models, strategic partnership development and collective impact approaches to address social challenges.
Simon is a Mental Health Nurse with over 20 years experience in both inpatient and community settings. He has significant experience in implementing psychosocial rehabilitation programs, direct clinical service provision and operational management. His current roles focus on the provision of physical health care to people with serious mental illness.
James has worked in a range of roles in the mental health sector since 2001 and has considerable experience in research, education, private practice, government, and non-government contexts. James’ expertise is working on a macro-level analysing the functioning of organisational and societal systems, and attempting through both qualitative and quantitative research methods to improve said systems. He also enjoys working on a more micro-level counselling individual and group clients, and teaching small groups of students. James has a keen interest in mental health and wellbeing research and has published his research through peer reviewed academic mediums and mainstream media.
James has a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) from Brown University, Post Graduate Diploma (Psychology) from Monash, and a Master and PhD of Psychology from Swinburne. He is a member of the Australian Psychological Society, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and the Australian Aviation Psychology Association.
Joe Cassar
Neami National
The Neami Health Prompt tool: "A good reminder of things I need to see the doctor about"
Abstract
The Neami Health Prompt is a physical health screening resource developed by Neami in response to the physical health needs of individuals accessing Neami services. The resource was developed with the primary purpose of supporting health conversations between staff and consumers. The Health Prompt is a resource comprising 28 questions which generate a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. Questions cover a range of areas relating to holistic health care and have been designed to meet nationally recognised standards and consumer needs. The Health Prompt is offered to all consumers at six monthly intervals. In 2014 following 18 months of implementation a formal evaluation was undertaken. This presentation will focus on qualitative data derived from focus groups conducted with consumers across Australia inclusive of consumer perspectives of health conversations, health literacy, physical health improvements, relationships with General Practitioners and workers and barriers impacting on lifestyle changes.
‘I talked about whatever was on here (the Health Prompt) and I saw a dietician, I saw the dentist, I got my eyes checked, stopped smoking’ (Consumer)
‘I talked about whatever was on here (the Health Prompt) and I saw a dietician, I saw the dentist, I got my eyes checked, stopped smoking’ (Consumer)
Biography
Rebecca Meldrum is the Victorian Health Promotion Officer at Neami National. She has over 5 years' experience in health promotion, public health and community development. Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Health Sciences in Oublic Health (Hons) and Bachelor of Arts in Gender, Sexuality and Diversity. One of her greatest achievements was having a paper published in the Journal of Sexuality and Culture last year. During her spare time, Rebecca volunteers as a Health Promotion editor for a health and education charity newsletter.
Kerry is the Manager of Projects Innovation and Research at Neami National, responsible for supporting consistent, quality and evidence-based services across Neami. Kerry has over 20 years experience in the mental health and disability fields as a researcher and practitioner in government, non-government and private sectors.
