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OBJECTIVES: To assess the experiences of a veteran initiated horticultural therapy garden during their 28-day inpatient Substance Abuse Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (SARRTP). DESIGN: Retrospective study. SETTING: Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC), Salem, Virginia, USA INTERVENTIONS: Group interviews with veterans from the last SARRTP classes and individual interviews with VAMC greenhouse staff in summer of 2016. OUTCOME MEASURES: Time spent in garden, frequency of garden visits, types of passive and active garden activities, words describing the veterans' emotional reactions to utilizing the garden. RESULTS: In 3 summer months of 2016, 50 percent of the 56 veterans interviewed visited and interacted with the gardens during their free time. Frequency of visits generally varied from 3 times weekly to 1-2 times a day. Amount of time in the garden varied from 10min to 2h. The veterans engaged in active and/or passive gardening activities during their garden visits. The veterans reported feeling "calm", "serene", and "refreshed" during garden visitation and after leaving the garden. CONCLUSIONS: Although data was secured only at the end of the 2016 growing season, interviews of the inpatient veterans revealed that they used their own initiative and resources to continue the horticulture therapy program for 2 successive growing years after the original pilot project ended in 2014. These non-interventionist, therapeutic garden projects suggest the role of autonomy and patient initiative in recovery programs for veterans attending VAMC treatment programs and they also suggest the value of horticulture therapy as a meaningful evidence- based therapeutic modality for veterans.
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Terapia Hortícola , Trastornos Relacionados con Sustancias/terapia , Veteranos , Humanos , Estudios Retrospectivos , Estrés Psicológico/terapiaRESUMEN
The effectiveness of medications for PTSD in general has been well studied, but the effectiveness of medicatio.ns prescribed specifically for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) nightmares is less well known. This retrospective chart review examined the efficacy of various medications used in actual treatment of PTSD nightmares at one Veteran Affairs Hospital. Records at the Salem, VA Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) were examined from 2009 to 2013 to check for the efficacy of actual treatments used in comparis.on with treatments suggested in three main review articles. The final sample consisted of 327 patients and 478 separate medication trials involving 21 individual medications plus 13 different medication combinations. The three most frequently utilized medications were prazosin (107 trials), risperidone (81 trials), and quetiapine (72 trials). Five medications had 20 or more trials with successful results (partial to full nightmare cessation) in >50% of trials: risperidone (77%, 1.0-6.0 mg), clonidine (63%, 0.1-2.0 mg), quetiapine (50%, 12.5-800.0 mg), mirtazapine (50%; 7.5-30.0 mg), and terazosin (64%, 50.0-300.0 mg). Notably, olanzapine (2.5-10.0) was successful (full remission) in all five prescription trials in five separate patients. Based on the clinical results, the use of risperidone, clonidine, terazosin, and olanzapine warrants additional investigation in clinically controlled trials as medications prescribed specifically for PTSD nightmares.
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Following the introduction of the Patient Self-Determination Act of 1990, the Veterans Health Administration developed its own advance medical directive (AMD) policy, which most recently states that documentation is mandatory for all hospital patients in all settings. The object of this study was to assess the effectiveness of AMD documentation at a local Veterans Affairs Medical Center. AMD documentation was compared among three inpatient services: surgery, medicine, and psychiatry. Retrospective in nature, 594 inpatient cases were compared. Results revealed that, overall, the rate of AMD documentation was 37.7%. AMD documentation on surgery was statistically more frequent (45.6%) than for either medicine (33.2%) or psychiatry (34.5%). The difference between the numbers of days to AMD documentation for all three services was not statistically significant. While there was no statistically significant difference across gender, Caucasians had AMDs documented more frequently than African Americans (p < .001). Logistic regression reveals that social worker and physician intervention, not patient-specific variables, are the primary predictors of AMD incidence. Policy makers may need to consider the realities of hospital care, especially in emergency settings, and be more specific in the steps of implementation of the policy in the evenings, weekends, and holidays. True adherence to policy implementation may require hospital administrators to increase staff and educational efforts so that the concept of AMD communication and documentation is completely explained to all staff and patients. Policy should include an electronic record reminder that is renewed every 3 years and provisions for accommodating patients who arrive on weekends and holidays, with special awareness of the particular communication needs of minority groups. The study conclusions are that further inquiry is needed to understand these policy nuances to enable the Veterans Affairs Administration to improve its policies and performance in this important aspect of healthcare.
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Directivas Anticipadas , Documentación , Política de Salud , Hospitales de Veteranos/organización & administración , Pacientes Internos , Adulto , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Femenino , Hospitalización , Humanos , Modelos Logísticos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Órdenes de Resucitación , Estudios Retrospectivos , Estados Unidos , VeteranosRESUMEN
To assess the prevalence and the team interaction in cases of missed delirium in acute care veterans coded as not having a diagnosis of delirium in admission or discharge notes. In this retrospective study, the records of 183 hospitalized veterans admitted to the emergency department (ED), medicine, surgery and psychiatry services and coded as not having a diagnosis of delirium were analyzed. Clinical notes of each case were examined using DSM IV TR criteria for delirium. Of the 52 cases assessed to have delirium, 5 cases had been miscoded as not having delirium. In the remaining 47 cases the diagnosis of delirium had been missed. The rates of undiagnosed delirium were ED 46/160, medicine 39/132, surgery 4/17, psychiatry 4/29 and consult liaison (CL) 0/9. Of the 5 cases of delirium identified by the CL service, 2 consult diagnoses were accepted and 3 were rejected. Nursing notes had words suggesting delirium in 70.2 % of 47 cases compared to 41.3 and 43.6 % of the clinician case notes for these patients admitted to ED and medicine respectively. No delirium or cognitive screening scales were utilized in the work up of the 52 cases involving delirium. The study results suggest that continuing education by the CL service of all hospital personnel involved in patient care may improve the diagnosis of delirium. Also, increased clinician-nursing intra-team communication, in addition to careful scrutiny of the nursing and clinician notes may contribute to the reduced incidence of missed delirium.
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Delirio/diagnóstico , Departamentos de Hospitales/estadística & datos numéricos , Relaciones Interprofesionales , Registros Médicos/estadística & datos numéricos , Adulto , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Competencia Clínica , Delirio/epidemiología , Delirio/psicología , Manual Diagnóstico y Estadístico de los Trastornos Mentales , Reacciones Falso Negativas , Femenino , Hospitalización/estadística & datos numéricos , Humanos , Masculino , Cuerpo Médico de Hospitales , Persona de Mediana Edad , Personal de Enfermería en Hospital , Prevalencia , Estudios Retrospectivos , VeteranosRESUMEN
A retrospective analysis was followed on 20 case reports covering the possible correlation between the atypical antipsychotic, quetiapine, and neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS), determined by the study of 7 different NMS criteria guidelines. A great majority (19) of the case studies did not meet the requirements of all 7 guidelines, frequently due to unreported information. Nor was quetiapine proven to be the sole cause of the possible NMS in the two age groups investigated. Only one case was found to have no other medication or medical conditions confounding the relationship of quetiapine and NMS symptoms, and that case was in the context of a significant quetiapine overdose. The other 19 cases demonstrated the difficulty of identifying the cause of NMS when polypharmacy and other medical conditions are involved. The authors note the need for caution in deciding both the presence of NMS and the causal factors of the symptoms.
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Antipsicóticos/efectos adversos , Dibenzotiazepinas/efectos adversos , Trastornos Mentales/tratamiento farmacológico , Síndrome Neuroléptico Maligno , Adulto , Factores de Edad , Antiparkinsonianos/efectos adversos , Antipsicóticos/administración & dosificación , Diagnóstico Diferencial , Manual Diagnóstico y Estadístico de los Trastornos Mentales , Dibenzotiazepinas/administración & dosificación , Relación Dosis-Respuesta a Droga , Fiebre/inducido químicamente , Adhesión a Directriz , Humanos , Persona de Mediana Edad , Rigidez Muscular/inducido químicamente , Síndrome Neuroléptico Maligno/diagnóstico , Síndrome Neuroléptico Maligno/etiología , Síndrome Neuroléptico Maligno/fisiopatología , Guías de Práctica Clínica como Asunto , Fumarato de Quetiapina , Estudios Retrospectivos , Síndrome de la Serotonina/diagnóstico , Síndrome de la Serotonina/etiología , Síndrome de la Serotonina/fisiopatología , Inhibidores Selectivos de la Recaptación de Serotonina/efectos adversos , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
Horticulture therapy employs plants and gardening activities in therapeutic and rehabilitation activities and could be utilized to improve the quality of life of the worldwide aging population, possibly reducing costs for long-term, assisted living and dementia unit residents. Preliminary studies have reported the benefits of horticultural therapy and garden settings in reduction of pain, improvement in attention, lessening of stress, modulation of agitation, lowering of as needed medications, antipsychotics and reduction of falls. This is especially relevant for both the United States and the Republic of Korea since aging is occurring at an unprecedented rate, with Korea experiencing some of the world's greatest increases in elderly populations. In support of the role of nature as a therapeutic modality in geriatrics, most of the existing studies of garden settings have utilized views of nature or indoor plants with sparse studies employing therapeutic gardens and rehabilitation greenhouses. With few controlled clinical trials demonstrating the positive or negative effects of the use of garden settings for the rehabilitation of the aging populations, a more vigorous quantitative analysis of the benefits is long overdue. This literature review presents the data supporting future studies of the effects of natural settings for the long term care and rehabilitation of the elderly having the medical and mental health problems frequently occurring with aging.
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OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical experience in the first Veterans Affairs (VA)-U.S. Army Warrior Transition Clinic (WTC) telepsychiatry operation (September 2008-August 2009). MATERIALS: Joint VA and U.S. Army records. METHODS: Analysis of intake, follow-up, and last visit records. RESULTS: One hundred twenty active-duty U.S. Army soldiers were seen (394 clinic visits). Ninety-eight soldiers had one or more combat tours, principally in Iraq and Afghanistan. Posttraumatic stress disorder was diagnosed in 50.0% of the cases by the WTC telepsychiatrists. The majority of the soldiers had medical comorbidities, especially chronic pain (75.0%), in addition to mental health problems. Several of the soldiers were recovering from trauma (20.8%) and/or surgery (23.3%), 11.7% exhibited traumatic brain injuries, and 17.5% had headaches. Disrupted relationships (74.2%) were notable for non-family members, especially military cohorts such as other persons in the same WTC squad or platoon. CONCLUSION: The observations in this report come from a cross-section of soldiers who were triaged to meet WTC admission criteria. As this is the prototype VA-U.S. Army telepsychiatry collaboration, there are no comparative data at this time. The nature of the medical and psychiatric problems treated in the military WTC represents an index of the more severe combat trauma treated on military bases from ongoing combat operations and may predict future VA-U.S. Army collaborative telepsychiatry clinic experiences.
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Conducta Cooperativa , Psiquiatría Militar/organización & administración , Evaluación de Programas y Proyectos de Salud , Adaptación Psicológica , Adulto , Dolor Crónico , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Trastornos Mentales , Persona de Mediana Edad , Personal Militar , Desarrollo de Programa , Estudios Retrospectivos , Estrés Psicológico , Factores de Tiempo , Estados Unidos , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To report the response to low-dose risperidone in individuals with combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) combat nightmares. DESIGN: Case series. SETTING: Veterans Affairs Medical Center Mental Health Clinic and collaborative VA-U.S. Army Fort Bragg Warrior Transition Telepsychiatry Clinic. PRACTICE DESCRIPTION: Veterans at the VA; soldiers that have severe medical and mental health problems in the Warrior Transition Telepsychiatry Clinic. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): No response: no change in frequency and/or severity of nightmares; partial response: decrease in frequency and/or severity of nightmares; full response: total cessation of recall of nightmares. RESULTS: The four individuals included one active duty soldier and three veterans, ranging from 40 to 76 years of age. All served in the infantry, each in a different combat theater. Two participants had a reduction in the frequency and severity of nightmares at risperidone 1 mg at night. One veteran with blood alcohol levels greater than 300 mg/mL had a partial response with risperidone 3 mg at night. Without active substance abuse, the four individuals had a total cessation of nightmares the first night at a risperidone dose of 2 mg at night. The total cessation of nightmares with risperidone continued despite changes in concurrent antidepressants, anxiolytics, and hypnotics. No medication side effects were reported. CONCLUSION: The use of low-dose risperidone (1-3 mg) at night can reduce the severity and frequency or stop the recall of PTSD combat nightmares in some veterans and active duty soldiers. Risperidone may be an effective medication for combat nightmares of PTSD and merits additional exploration.
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Antipsicóticos/uso terapéutico , Trastornos de Combate/tratamiento farmacológico , Risperidona/uso terapéutico , Trastornos por Estrés Postraumático/tratamiento farmacológico , Adulto , Anciano , Sueños/efectos de los fármacos , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana EdadRESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: Bupropion is a substituted phenyl-ethylamine that is extensively utilized for the treatment of major depressive disorder and for smoking cessation. It is a reuptake inhibitor of dopamine and norepinephrine, and it also has some nicotinic antagonism. There are concerns that it may increase the risk of psychosis due to its dopaminergic effects. Our objective is to review the literature and analyze the risk of bupropion precipitating a psychotic illness in the general population as well as in the populations with a history of psychotic symptoms. METHODS: A Medline database search limited to human and English-language studies was conducted using the keywords "bupropion" and "psychosis." A total of 23 articles were selected based on the relevance of the articles and their references. The data from these articles were collated. RESULTS: Collated data show that there is some evidence to suggest that bupropion may cause or worsen psychosis in selected subpopulations. Higher doses of bupropion appear more likely to be associated with the outcome severity. Preexisting psychotic symptoms, substance abuse and drug interactions also seem to increase the risk. Concurrent use of antipsychotics at adequate doses appears to be protective. CONCLUSIONS: The literature is incomplete and in some cases contradictory. In selected cases, bupropion appears to be associated with the induction of psychotic symptoms in addition to the precipitation or worsening of an existing psychotic syndrome. Further research including controlled studies is required to clarify the risk of bupropion precipitating a psychotic illness in vulnerable populations.
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Antidepresivos de Segunda Generación/efectos adversos , Bupropión/efectos adversos , Psicosis Inducidas por Sustancias/etiología , Adulto , Anciano , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
To improve the management of soldiers with combat-related mental health problems, an interdisciplinary telepsychiatry service was established between a clinic at the Fort Bragg army base and the Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center in Salem. In the first 12 months of operation, 120 soldiers (105 males) were seen in a total of 394 telepsychiatry sessions. The time spent on telepsychiatry by the six VA psychiatrists increased from 13 hours in the first month to 41 hours in the twelfth month. The number of telepsychiatry sessions increased from nine in the first month to 56 in the twelfth month. The mean global assessment of function score (GAF) in the soldiers increased significantly (P < 0.001) from 58.0 at intake to 62.3 at the last visit. Soldiers received VA telepsychiatry on average 22 days after the initial consultation with a primary care provider, a reduction of at least eight days compared to the previous delay. The majority of soldiers (89%) who were treated by VA psychiatrists enrolled in the VA within about six months of discharge. Similar VA-US Military collaborations may prove beneficial for other military bases that have returning combat soldiers.