Childhood maltreatment (CM) significantly increases the risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for which the prevalence in Europe is higher than initially assumed. While the high economic burden of PTSD is well-documented, little is known about the health care cost differences between individuals with PTSD-CM and those without PTSD in Germany. This study aimed to determine the excess health care and absenteeism costs associated with PTSD-CM in Germany.

Baseline data from a multi-center randomized controlled trial on individuals with PTSD-CM (n = 361) were combined with data from individuals without PTSD (n = 4760). Entropy balancing was used to balance the data sets with regard to sociodemographic characteristics. Six-month excess health care costs from a societal perspective were calculated for 2022, using two-part models with logit specification for the first part and a generalized linear model for the second part.

The total six-month excess costs associated with PTSD-CM were €8864 (95% CI: €6855 to €10,873) per person. Of this, the excess health care costs accounted for €4647 (95% CI €3296 to €5997) and the excess costs of absenteeism for €4217 (95% CI: €3121 to €5314). Individuals with mild to moderate PTSD symptoms incurred total excess costs of €6038 (95% CI: €3879 to €8197), while those with severe to extreme symptoms faced €11,433 (95% CI: €8220 to €14,646).

Excess health care and absenteeism costs associated with PTSD-CM were substantial, with absenteeism accounting for roughly half of the total excess costs.

Antipsychotic-induced weight gain (AIWG) is a substantial contributor to high obesity rates in psychiatry. Limited management guidance exists to inform clinical practice, and individuals with experience of managing AIWG have had no or minimal input into its development. A lack of empirical research outlining patient values and preferences for management also exists. Recommendations addressing weight management in psychiatry may be distinctly susceptible to ideology and sociocultural values regarding intervention appropriateness and expectations of self-management, reinforcing the need for co-produced management guidance. This study is the first to ask: how do individuals conceptualise preferred AIWG management and how can this be realised in practice?

1. Explore the management experiences of individuals with unwanted AIWG. 2. Elicit their values and preferences regarding preferred management.

Qualitative descriptive methodology informed study design. A total of 17 participants took part in semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was undertaken using reflexive thematic analysis.

Participants reported that clinicians largely overestimated AIWG manageability using dietary and lifestyle changes. They also reported difficulties accessing alternative management interventions, including a change in antipsychotic and/or pharmacological adjuncts. Participants reported current management guidance is oversimplified, lacks the specificity and scope required, and endorses a ‘one-size-fits-all’ management approach to an extensively heterogenous side-effect. Participants expressed a preference for collaborative AIWG management and guidance that prioritises early intervention using the range of evidence-based management interventions, tailored according to AIWG risk, participant ability and participant preference.

Integration of this research into guideline development will help ensure recommendations are relevant and applicable, and that individual preferences are represented.

Operative cancellations adversely affect patient health and impose resource strain on the healthcare system. Here, our objective was to describe neurosurgical cancellations at five Canadian academic institutions.

The Canadian Neurosurgery Research Collaborative performed a retrospective cohort study capturing neurosurgical procedure cancellation data at five Canadian academic centres, during the period between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2018. Demographics, procedure type, reason for cancellation, admission status and case acuity were collected. Cancellation rates were compared on the basis of demographic data, procedural data and between centres.

Overall, 7,734 cancellations were captured across five sites. Mean age of the aggregate cohort was 57.1 ± 17.2 years. The overall procedure cancellation rate was 18.2%. The five-year neurosurgical operative cancellation rate differed between Centre 1 and 2 (Centre 1: 25.9%; Centre 2: 13.0%, p = 0.008). Female patients less frequently experienced procedural cancellation. Elective, outpatient and spine procedures were more often cancelled. Reasons for cancellation included surgeon-related factors (28.2%), cancellation for a higher acuity case (23.9%), patient condition (17.2%), other factors (17.0%), resource availability (7.0%), operating room running late (6.4%) and anaesthesia-related (0.3%). When clustered, the reason for cancellation was patient-related in 17.2%, staffing-related in 28.5% and operational or resource-related in 54.3% of cases.

Neurosurgical operative cancellations were common and most often related to operational or resource-related factors. Elective, outpatient and spine procedures were more often cancelled. These findings highlight areas for optimizing efficiency and targeted quality improvement initiatives.

Limited evidence exists regarding care pathways for stroke survivors who do and do not receive poststroke spasticity (PSS) treatment.

Administrative data was used to identify adults who experienced a stroke and sought acute care between 2012 and 2017 in Alberta, Canada. Pathways of stroke care within the health care system were determined among those who initiated PSS treatment (PSS treatment group: outpatient pharmacy dispensation of an anti-spastic medication, focal chemo-denervation injection, or a spasticity tertiary clinic visit) and those who did not (non-PSS treatment group). Time from the stroke event until spasticity treatment initiation, and setting where treatment was initiated were reported. Descriptive statistics were performed.

Health care settings within the pathways of stroke care that the PSS (n = 1,079) and non-PSS (n = 22,922) treatment groups encountered were the emergency department (86 and 84%), acute inpatient care (80 and 69%), inpatient rehabilitation (40 and 12%), and long-term care (19 and 13%), respectively. PSS treatment was initiated a median of 291 (interquartile range 625) days after the stroke event, and most often in the community when patients were residing at home (45%), followed by “other” settings (22%), inpatient rehabilitation (18%), long-term care (11%), and acute inpatient care (4%).

To our knowledge, this is the first population based cohort study describing pathways of care among adults with stroke who subsequently did or did not initiate spasticity treatment. Areas for improvement in care may include strategies for earlier identification and treatment of PSS.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is experienced by > 600,000 Canadians. Disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) for earlier stages of disease are in development. Existing health system capacity constraints and the need for biomarker-driven diagnostics to confirm DMT eligibility are concerning. This study aimed to characterize the capacity gap related to early AD (eAD) treatment with DMTs in Canada.

A capacity model was developed to simulate the flow of a patient from screening to treatment for eAD to quantify the gap between available and required healthcare resources and qualify the bottlenecks restricting the patient journey at a provincial and national level. The model inputs (epidemiological, human resource, and clinical) were evidence-based, healthcare professional-, and patient advocate-informed.

The model estimated that nationally < 2% of patients would have access to the required healthcare resources for treatment with a DMT. Eligibility assessment represented the step with the largest capacity gap across all provinces, with a wait list of about 382,000 Canadians one year following DMT introduction. The top three resource gaps included AD specialist time and positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging exam slots. Sensitivity analysis showed that full reliance on cerebrospinal fluid for eligibility testing increased capacity for assessment by about 47,000 patients.

This model highlights that the Canadian health system is critically under-resourced to diagnose, assess, and treat patients with eAD with DMT. It underscores an urgent need for national policy and provincial resource allocation to close the gap.

Patients with hearing loss and tinnitus face lengthy waits to be seen in the ENT clinic. SHOEBOX Audiometry is an iPad-based, audiometric screening tool. A virtual hearing loss and non-pulsatile tinnitus clinic involving an ENT specialist virtually assessing cases based on the SHOEBOX audiogram, a patient symptom questionnaire and the primary care referral letter were implemented. This service evaluation explored the outcomes of the virtual clinic in reducing the need for a face-to-face ENT appointment.

This was a retrospective service evaluation of the first six months of the virtual hearing loss and non-pulsatile tinnitus clinic.

A total of 210 patients were included: 34.8 per cent (73) were discharged without requiring audiologist assessment or an ENT appointment, 51.9 per cent (109) required formal audiological assessment, 36.7 per cent (77) required imaging and only 13.8 per cent (29) required a face-to-face ENT appointment.

A virtual hearing loss and non-pulsatile tinnitus clinic minimised the number of patients requiring a traditional face-to-face clinic appointment within ENT.

A national electronic health record is being procured for Health Service Executive hospitals in Ireland. A number of hospitals have implemented an electronic document management system. This study aimed to investigate the efficiency and safety of the electronic document management system in our centre.

A retrospective audit was performed of patients operated on at Galway University Hospital. The availability and location of patients’ admission data on the electronic document management system were recorded. These data were analysed using Microsoft Excel software, version 16.45.

The records of 100 patients were analysed. The main findings were: 5 per cent of operation notes were missing, 80 per cent were in the incorrect section, while 15 per cent were in the correct ‘procedure’ section on the electronic document management system.

This study shows there is potential for error with ‘paper-light’ solutions, whereby delayed scanning, misfiling of scanned records and missing records may lead to significant delays in treatment and potential patient safety issues.

No significant relationships.

Existing research has seldom examined patient safety problems experienced by service users accessing community mental healthcare, with the growing evidence base focusing largely on safety in psychiatric inpatient settings. Accordingly, there is poor understanding of safety issues in community-based mental health services as perceived by service users, carers, and healthcare professionals.

This study aims to explore safety problems in adult community-based mental health services, their causation, and priority areas for improving the safety of care provided in these services.

In-depth, semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with users of community-based mental health services, carers, and healthcare professionals employed within these settings. Interview topic guides were designed jointly with stakeholders from these groups (N=7) and piloted (N=3). Interviews and focus groups will be transcribed, coded, and analysed using an inductive thematic analysis approach. Illustrative quotes will be extracted and used to describe the key themes that emerge from the analysis and their inter-relationships.

This presentation will provide an outline of patient safety as understood and experienced by key stakeholder groups. Study findings will explicate safety issues, healthcare system factors underpinning their causation, as well as practices which could improve safety in this context.

This research will help to advance understanding of the nature of patient safety problems in community-based mental healthcare services for adults, based on the experiences of service users, carers, and healthcare professionals within these services. The research will address key evidence gaps and represents an important step towards identifying areas which warrant intervention to improve patient safety.

NS is the director of London Safety and Training Solutions Ltd, which offers training in patient safety, implementation solutions and human factors to healthcare organisations and the pharmaceutical industry. The other authors have no competing interests.

This paper reports our experience in managing dizzy patients remotely during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, and explored its safety as an alternative to face-to-face consultations.

Dizzy patients referred by their general practitioner were contacted to answer a validated questionnaire. Clinicians recorded the time needed for consultations, and the diagnosis at each of the following assessment stages: after review of the electronic general practitioner letter; following completion of the questionnaire; following the telephone consultation; and/or at follow up. Patients were telephoned no earlier than three months later to determine satisfaction with the service and symptom resolution. Electronic patient records were checked for presentation to hospital because of dizziness.

Seventy patients had telephone consultations. None presented to the emergency department or were admitted. The majority of consultations took 15–30 minutes. The most diagnosed condition was benign positional paroxysmal vertigo. Seventy-nine per cent of patients were satisfied with the service. The questionnaire and telephone consultations demonstrated the greatest diagnosis agreement (κ = 0.40).

Validated questionnaire and telephone consultations are a safe alternative to face-to-face consultations. Our patient referral pathway has now changed to include elements of the questionnaire.

Guidance in England recommends psychosocial assessment when presenting to hospital following self-harm but adherence is variable. There is some evidence suggesting that psychosocial assessment is associated with lower risk of subsequent presentation to hospital for self-harm, but the potential cost-effectiveness of psychosocial assessment for hospital-presenting self-harm is unknown.

A three-state four-cycle Markov model was used to assess cost-effectiveness of psychosocial assessment after self-harm compared with no assessment over 2 years. Data on risk of subsequent self-harm and hospital costs of treating self-harm were drawn from the Multicentre Study of Self-Harm in England, while estimates of effectiveness of psychosocial assessment on risk of self-harm, quality of life, and other costs were drawn from literature. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) for cost per Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY) gained were estimated. Parameter uncertainty was addressed in univariate and probabilistic sensitivity analyses.

Cost per QALY gained from psychosocial assessment was £10,962 (95% uncertainty interval [UI] £15,538–£9,219) from the National Health Service (NHS) perspective and £9,980 (95% UI £14,538–£6,938) from the societal perspective. Results were generally robust to changes in model assumptions. The probability of the ICER being below £20,000 per QALY gained was 78%, rising to 91% with a £30,000 threshold.

Psychosocial assessment as implemented in the English NHS is likely to be cost-effective. This evidence could support adherence to NICE guidelines. However, further evidence is needed about the precise impacts of psychosocial assessment on self-harm repetition and costs to individuals and their families beyond immediate hospital stay.

It remains unknown whether coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with bipolar disorders (BDs) are at an increased risk of mortality. We aimed to establish whether health outcomes and care differed between patients infected with COVID-19 with BD and patients without a diagnosis of severe mental illness.

We conducted a population-based cohort study of all patients with identified COVID-19 and respiratory symptoms who were hospitalized in France between February and June 2020. The outcomes were in-hospital mortality and intensive care unit (ICU) admission. We used propensity score matching to control for confounding factors.

In total, 50 407 patients were included, of whom 480 were patients with BD. Patients with BD were 2 years older, more frequently women and had more comorbidities than controls without a diagnosis of severe mental illness. Patients with BD had an increased in-hospital mortality rate (26.6% v. 21.9%; p = 0.034) and similar ICU admission rate (27.9% v. 28.4%, p = 0.799), as confirmed by propensity analysis [odds ratio, 95% confidence interval (OR, 95% CI) for mortality: 1.30 (1.16–1.45), p < 0.0001]. Significant interactions between BD and age and between BD and social deprivation were found, highlighting that the most important inequalities in mortality were observed in the youngest [OR, 95% CI 2.28 (1.18–4.41), p = 0.0015] and most deprived patients with BD [OR, 95% CI 1.60 (1.33–1.92), p < 0.001].

COVID-19 patients with BD were at an increased risk of mortality, which was exacerbated in the youngest and most deprived patients with BD. Patients with BD should thus be targeted as a high-risk population for severe forms of COVID-19, requiring enhanced preventive and disease management strategies.

We examined the return on investment (ROI) from the Endovascular Reperfusion Alberta (ERA) project, a provincially funded population-wide strategy to improve access to endovascular therapy (EVT), to inform policy regarding sustainability.

We calculated net benefit (NB) as benefit minus cost and ROI as benefit divided by cost. Patients treated with EVT and their controls were identified from the ESCAPE trial. Using the provincial administrative databases, their health services utilization (HSU), including inpatient, outpatient, physician, long-term care services, and prescription drugs, were compared. This benefit was then extrapolated to the number of patients receiving EVT increased in 2018 and 2019 by the ERA implementation. We used three time horizons, including short (90 days), medium (1 year), and long-term (5 years).

EVT was associated with a reduced gross HSU cost for all the three time horizons. Given the total costs of ERA were $2.04 million in 2018 ($11,860/patient) and $3.73 million in 2019 ($17,070/patient), NB per patient in 2018 (2019) was estimated at −$7,313 (−$12,524), $54,592 ($49,381), and $47,070 ($41,859) for short, medium, and long-term time horizons, respectively. Total NB for the province in 2018 (2019) were −$1.26 (−$2.74), $9.40 ($10.78), and $8.11 ($9.14) million; ROI ratios were 0.4 (0.3), 5.6 (3.9) and 5.0 (3.5). Probabilities of ERA being cost saving were 39% (31%), 97% (96%), and 94% (91%), for short, medium, and long-term time horizons, respectively.

The ERA program was cost saving in the medium and long-term time horizons. Results emphasized the importance of considering a broad range of HSU and long-term impact to capture the full ROI.

Research career development awards (CDAs) facilitate development of clinician-scientists. This study compared the academic achievements of individuals in a structured institutional “pre-K” CDA program, the Mayo Clinic Kern Scholars program, with individuals who applied for but were not admitted to the Kern program (“Kern applicants”), and awardees of other unstructured internal CDAs.

This was a longitudinal cohort study of clinicians engaged in research at Mayo Clinic between 2010 and 2019. The primary outcome was time to the 15th new peer-reviewed publication after the program start, adjusted for baseline number of publications. Secondarily, we described successful awarding of federal funding by the NIH or VA.

The median (IQR) number of baseline publications was highest among Kern Scholars compared to Kern Applicants or other CDA awardees [16 (12, 29) vs 5 (1, 11) and 8 (5, 16); P < 0.001]. After adjustment for baseline publications, the time to 15th new publication was significantly shorter for Kern Scholars than for the two comparator groups (P<0.001). Similar findings were observed with total new publications within 5 years (P < 0.001), as well as number of new first-/last-author publications within 5 years (P < 0.001). The overall frequency of K-awards, R-awards (or equivalent), or any funding were similar between groups, with the exception of R03 awards, which were significantly more common among Kern Scholars (P = 0.002).

The Kern Scholars program is a successful training model for clinician-scientists that demonstrated comparatively greater acceleration of scholarly productivity than other internal CDA programs.