OBJECTIVE: To evaluate current practice at a generic adult mental health service, St Vincent's Mental Health Service (SVMHS) in relation to management of @entity1 with early @entity716 . A further aim was to compare treatment of early @entity716 @entity1 within this generic service with management of a similar group in a specialized early @entity716 service. METHOD: A case file audit of all @entity1 identified as having early @entity716 (within the first 2 years of treatment) was undertaken using a standardized audit tool. Variables including proportion of early @entity716 admitted as inpatients to the psychiatric unit, average length of stay (LOS), use of seclusion, involvement of police in admission process, mean neuroleptic dose and estimated duration of untreated @entity716 (DUP) were studied. Results of this audit were then compared with published evaluative data from the Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre (EPPIC), a service specifically catering for young @entity1 with early @entity716 (within the first 18 months of treatment). RESULTS: Data were collected on 62 of 68 @entity1 identified as having early @entity716 . Within the generic service, mean DUP was found to be about 15 months, a high proportion (81%) of @entity1 were admitted and secluded (22% of those admitted), average length of stay was 46.5 days and use of police in the admission process was also high (40% of those admitted). This compares unfavourably with the EPPIC data of mean DUP of just over 6 months, 64.1% of @entity1 admitted, 10.3% secluded, average LOS 12.9 days, and police involved in 3.8% of admissions. CONCLUSIONS: We believe that practice at SVMHS in relation to early @entity716 @entity1 is fairly typical of management of these @entity1 within generic services as a whole. These services tend to focus on the needs of the majority of their @entity1 , those with chronic @entity161 , rather than the small group of @entity1 with early @entity716 (who make up about 8% of current case-load at SVMHS). Failure to assertively assess and follow-up young @entity1 with early @entity716 may contribute to long DUPs, which may in turn result in @entity1 being more disturbed at time of initial treatment, thus requiring inpatient treatment and longer length of stay. Additionally, staff at generic services may not feel confident in managing early @entity716 @entity1 and may be unaware of the special needs of this @entity1 group. These preliminary data suggest that generic services are not optimal for treatment of early @entity716 @entity1 and that treatment of early @entity716 within them is not cost-effective.

Management of early XXXX in a generic adult mental health service.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients', 'patient', 'people'] @entity161 :: ('MESH:D012559', 'Disease') :: ['schizophrenia'] @entity716 :: ('MESH:D011605', 'Disease') :: ['psychosis']
@entity716 :: (MESH:D011605,Disease) :: ['psychosis']
