Complaint risk among mental health practitioners compared with physical health practitioners: a retrospective cohort study of complaints to health regulators in Australia

Reunification, reconsidered: Presenting an integrative, single-therapist framework for resolving parent-child contact problems

Providing therapy to families of separation and divorce can be a challenging area of practice for marriage and family therapists, particularly when a child refuses contact with a parent. Several forms of "reunification therapy" designed to overcome resist/refuse dynamics between a child and parent have been proposed, with significant variation across the conceptualization of factors contributing to parent-child contact problems and the resulting treatment models that have been described. In an effort to design an overarching integrative framework for conducting family reunification therapy that is informed by available evidence, a review of the current literature is conducted. Following this review, an integrative single-therapist framework for resolving parent-child contact problems is presented. Over the course of three successive treatment "stages," this framework permits a marriage and family therapist to conduct reunification therapy in an evidence-informed manner along general systemic therapeutic principles while permitting flexibility with respect to the specific interventions selected.

Understanding Risk Factors for Complaints Against Pharmacists: A Content Analysis

OBJECTIVES

Pharmacists constitute a crucial component of the healthcare system, significantly influencing the provision of medication services and ensuring patient safety. This study aims to understand the characteristics and risk factors for complaints against pharmacists through Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) published decisions.

METHODS

This study adopts a retrospective, qualitative approach. An inductive content analysis technique was used to analyze 37 complaints against pharmacists published decisions from the New Zealand Health and Disability Commissioner website to investigate a range of underlying risk factors contributing to the occurrence of complaints against pharmacists.

RESULTS

A set of 20 categories of risk factors emerged through the content analysis and were subsequently grouped into five overarching themes: pharmacist individual factors, organizational factors, system factors, medication-specific factors, and external environmental factors.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings of this study provide valuable insights that expand the understanding of risk management in pharmacist practice, serving as a valuable resource for regulatory bodies, policymakers, educators, and practitioners. It is recommended not only to focus solely on individual pharmacists but also to consider integrating their environment and individual behaviors to proactively address situations prone to errors and subsequent complaints.

Influencing factors of knowledge proficiency of general practitioners in rural China for esophageal cancer prevention and treatment: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

This study aims to investigate the knowledge of rural general practitioners (GPs) in esophageal cancer (EC) prevention and treatment in China and analyze relevant influencing factors, so as to improve the ability of rural GPs in EC prevention and treatment.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted from November 5, 2021, to November 20, 2021. A self-designed questionnaire was used to conduct an online survey. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify the influencing factors of knowledge proficiency of GPs in rural China for EC prevention and treatment.

RESULTS

This study included 348 participants from 12 rural areas in Hebei Province. The mean accuracy rate on all question items was 42.3% ± 10.67%. Sex (OR = 2.870, 95% CI: 1.519-5.423), educational level (OR = 3.256, 95% CI: 1.135-9.339), and comprehension of clinical practice guidelines for EC (OR = 4.305, 95% CI: 2.023-9.161) were significant predictors for GPs' knowledge proficiency of EC prevention and treatment (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The study indicated that knowledge proficiency of rural GPs of EC prevention and control still awaits to be improved. Sex, educational level, and comprehension of clinical practice guidelines for EC were significant predictors for their proficiency.

Risk identification and prediction of complaints and misconduct against health practitioners: a scoping review

Identifying the risk and predicting complaints and misconduct against health practitioners are essential for healthcare regulators to implement early interventions and develop long-term prevention strategies to improve professional practice and enhance patient safety. This scoping review aims to map out existing literature on the risk identification and prediction of complaints and misconduct against health practitioners. This scoping review followed Arksey and O'Malley's five-stage methodological framework. A comprehensive literature search was conducted on MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL databases and finished on the same day (6 September 2021). Articles meeting the eligibility criteria were charted and descriptively analysed through a narrative analysis method. The initial search generated 5473 articles. After the identification, screening, and inclusion process, 81 eligible studies were included for data charting. Three key themes were reported: methods used for identifying risk factors and predictors of the complaints and misconduct, synthesis of identified risk factors and predictors in eligible studies, and predictive tools developed for complaints and misconduct against health practitioners. The findings reveal that risk identification and prediction of complaints and misconduct are complex issues influenced by multiple factors, exhibiting non-linear patterns and being context specific. Further efforts are needed to understand the characteristics and interactions of risk factors, develop systematic risk prediction tools, and facilitate the application in the regulatory environment.

Criminal and financial penalties for clinicians in the ACT Mental Health Act weigh more heavily on senior doctors

OBJECTIVE

We sought to assess the attitudes of ACT public psychiatry doctors towards the financial and criminal penalties in the ACT Mental Health Act 2015.

METHOD

Baseline attitude was surveyed with an 11-item 5-point Likert scale. Education was then provided about the offences outlined in the Act and the associated penalties. The same initial survey was then repeated. Primary outcomes were changes in attitude pre- and post- information, and secondarily data was explored for differences related to gender and seniority.

RESULTS

Forty-nine percent of 89 eligible public mental health system doctors responded. The majority of the survey respondents were female (59%). Provision of information resulted in a significant improvement in understanding of liabilities (2.80 (SD 1.14) versus 3.58 (SD 0.93), t(39) = 4.06, p < 0.001). Gender had no significant impact on scores. Senior staff were less legally secure and less satisfied with the Mental Health Act pre-information being provided. With regards to notification penalties, with education, junior staff became more secure and seniors less so.

CONCLUSIONS

Information provision improves understanding of the penalties under the Mental Health Act 2015. Having a senior role predicts lower satisfaction with the penalties in the Act.