Last week, our AJC guest reporter told us horror story after horror story of abuse in mental hospitals. It was really gut wrenching. Not only do we need more of a psychiatric workforce, but we need to take better care of them in order to increase their longevity. These people may have the toughest job on the planet.
This month in Psychiatric Services (58:1324-1329, Oct 2007), Dr. Edward S. Casper discusses his study with 94 mental health practitioners who were participating in continuing education. One group of them did the standard continuing education, but the other group did continuing education that applied principles of the theory of planned behavior. Guess what? The group using the theory applied what they learned in the class by a 74% versus 42% ratio. The content of the class is not important for this blog, but suffice it to say that we need to be giving mental health practitioners effective tools that can make their job easier and more productive. Lives are at stake. (You'll have to use Galileo to find the article.)
I had my semi-annual "blood drawing" the other day at the health center. I am on Lipitor and have to do that. Did you know that lab workers are an important part of our health workforce? Don't feel bad if you do not as there are a lot of folks who don't think about it. That is why a bunch of laboratory associations are coming together for an initiative called "labs are vital." "Lab Worker contributions save lives, reduce morbidity, and help control the cost of care," said the VP of the American Society for Clinical Pathology."
So the next time you get that "stick" in your arm, thank the lab tech for what they do.
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Related to the mental health topic, I read an article in the NY Times this week that says that talk therapy is very beneficial in the long term in treating depression. In some cases, after six months of talk therapy patients are effectively cured.
It is hard not to put complete blame on the workers involved with mental health patients when something goes wrong. However, we do have to consider that many people stuck dealing with these patients have not been given appropriate training beforehand.
What's the pay scale for people who provide direct care in residential mental health facilities? I'm guessing that these jobs pay poorly, which could explain why people who hold them aren't highly trained or educated. If there are training mechanisms that work, I'm all for them.
Lab techs are another underappreciated group of health workers, and you can learn more about what these key players do when we visit the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service lab on Wednesday.
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