Tag: Patten

Reading of the Week: Delirium in the ICU – the New NEJM Paper; Also, Admissions and COVID (CJP) and Dr. Boulay on Our Own (NEJM)

February 23, 2023 /

From the Editor

Is there a role for haloperidol in the treatment of delirium in ICU settings? That may seem like an unusual question since many patients receive this medication, perhaps half. But evidence is light.

In the first selection, Dr. Nina C. Andersen-Ranberg (of the University of Southern Denmark) and her co-authors consider ICU delirium with a new RCT, published in The New England Journal of Medicine. In this elegant study, half of the patients were randomized to receive haloperidol (in the IV form) and the other half received a placebo. They find: “Among patients in the ICU with delirium, treatment with haloperidol did not lead to a significantly greater number of days alive and out of the hospital at 90 days than placebo.” We consider the paper.

In the second selection, Dr. Scott B. Patten (of the University of Calgary) and his co-authors analyze hospital admissions and psychiatric diagnoses before and after the start of the pandemic. In this Canadian Journal of Psychiatry paper, they draw on Alberta data. Noting an existing literature on eating disorders, they also find an increase in patients with personality disorders being admitted. “[T]he increase was more pronounced than the widely reported increase in admissions for eating disorders.”

And, in the third selection, Dr. Richard M. Boulay (of St. Luke’s University Health Network) weighs in on physician mental health. In this highly personal New England Journal of Medicine paper, the gynecologic oncologist describes the problems of a second-year surgery resident who almost dies by suicide. He feels that she was failed by her program and medical culture itself. He writes: “[S]olutions are available. It’s time we began looking after our own.”

DG

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Reading of the Week: Dr. Scott Patten on ChatGPT

February 9, 2023 /

From the Editor

Having only written four papers, the author wouldn’t seem particularly noteworthy. Yet the work is causing a buzz. Indeed, JAMA published an Editorial about the author, the papers, and the implications.

That author is ChatGPT, who isn’t human, of course – and that’s why it has made something of a splash. More than a million people tried this AI program in the week after its November launch, utilizing it to do everything from composing poetry to drafting essays for school assignments. 

What to make of ChatGPT? What are the implications for psychiatry? And for our journals?

To the last question, some are already reacting; as noted above, last week, JAMA published an Editorial and also updated its Instructions to Authors with several changes, including: “Nonhuman artificial intelligence, language models, machine learning, or similar technologies do not qualify for authorship.”

This week, we feature an original essay by Dr. Scott Patten (of the University of Calgary) for the Reading of the Week. Dr. Patten, who serves as the Editor Emeritus of The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, considers ChatGPT and these three questions, drawing on his own use of the program.

(And we note that the field is evolving quickly. Since Dr. Patten’s first draft, Microsoft has announced a chatbot for the search engine Bing.)

DG

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Reading of the Week: Canada Day – With Papers on Cannabis, Chatbots, Depression, Nutraceuticals and Benzodiazepines in Pregnancy

July 1, 2021 /

From the Editor

It’s Canada Day.

Let’s start by noting that not everyone has a day off. Some of our colleagues are working – perhaps in hospitals or vaccine clinics. A quick word of thanks to them for helping our patients on a holiday.

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Appropriately, this week’s selections will focus on Canadian work.

What makes a paper “Canadian” for the purposes of this review? That is, how do we define Canadian? Things could get complicated quickly when considering journal papers. Does the second author order “double double” at Tim Hortons? Has the senior author eaten poutine for breakfast? Is the journal’s action editor hoping that the Canadiens bring the Cup home?

Let’s keep things simple: all the papers selected this week have been published in a Canadian journal and the papers are clinically relevant for those of us seeing patients in Canada.

There are many papers that could have been chosen, of course. I’ve picked five papers – a mix of papers that have been featured previously in past Readings, and some new ones. All but one of the selected papers are recent.

Please note that there will be no Readings for the next two weeks.

DG

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Reading of the Week: ECT & Equity (CJP); also, COVID and Mental Health Surveys (Policy Options) and Farrell on Witnessing the Pandemic (Nation)

July 23, 2020 /

From the Editor

Who has better access to care?

This week, we have three selections. The first is a paper about inpatient ECT – an important topic. And the study – just published in The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry – has interesting findings, including that ECT is not particularly commonly performed (for just 1 out of 10 inpatients with depression). But this new paper by Dr. Tyler S. Kaster (of the University of Toronto) and his co-authors also touches on the larger issue of equity. We consider it – and the questions the study raises.

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The second selection is an essay from Policy Options. Drs. Scott Patten (of the University of Calgary) and Stan Kutcher (of Dalhousie University) bemoan the state of mental health data during the pandemic. “There has been a disturbing acceptance of trivial and often misrepresented information, delivered from sub-optimal surveys and problematic interpretation of results.”

Finally, we consider an essay by Dr. Colleen M. Farrell (of Cornell University). She discusses COVID-19 – she is working in the ICU of a major New York City hospital during the pandemic – but also ties to the larger issues of public health, advocacy, and the role of medicine. “As I tend to my patients in the Covid ICU, I struggle to process reality. The attending physicians who are my teachers have few answers; this disease is new to all of us.”

Please note that there will be no Reading next week.

DG

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Reading of the Week: Lithium Prescribing – Rare, Too Rare (CJP)? Also, Social Media & Medical Research (Nat Med) and Chocolate Survival Time (BMJ)

December 19, 2019 /

From the Editor

Lithium is effective as a medication. How often is it prescribed?

This week, there are three selections, and we open with a small paper with a big finding.

In the first selection, Dr. Scott B. Patten and Jeanne V. A. Williams (both of the University of Calgary) draw on national survey data to consider lithium prescribing in Canada. “The frequency of lithium use is surprisingly low,” they find.

lithium-on-the-periodic-tableLithium: on the Periodic Table, but not in the drug cabinet

In the second selection, we look at a Nature Medicine article that contemplates social media and medical research. Writer Nicole Wetsman quotes Dr. Esther Choo, an emergency physician who is prominent on Twitter: “It’s incredible medical education.”

Finally, for the third selection, we tip our hats to the holiday season, and consider a not-so-new BMJ paper on holiday chocolates. Published as part of a past Christmas issue – the popular, annual tradition that takes a light-hearted approach to inquiry – Bedford Hospital’s Parag R. Gajendragadkar and his co-authors ask a not-so-weighty question: how long do holiday chocolates last on hospital wards?

Note that there will be no Reading next week. Happy Holidays.

DG

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Reading of the Week: A 20th Century Medical Renaissance Man – the Life & Legacy of Dr. Roger Bland

December 7, 2018 /

From the Editor

Few individuals have contributed more to the evolution psychiatry, the promotion of mental health, or served as a more committed and effective advocate for the mentally ill than Dr. Roger C. Bland. He inspired us, he guided us, he mentored us and enriched us. He was a father figure to many – a voice of experience, compassion, reason and intelligence we could always count on.

Simply put, Dr. Bland was a great man.

Dr. Roger Bland had a storied career.

He was a practicing psychiatrist for decades. He also held many leadership and administrative positions over the years: Chair of the University of Alberta’s Department of Psychiatry, President of the Alberta Psychiatric Association, Vice-President International Federation of Psychiatric Epidemiology, Assistant Deputy Minister of Health for Alberta, and Deputy Editor of The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. For his accomplishments, he was appointed to the Order of Canada. He also found time to be a father and grandfather. And he was an accomplished chef.

He passed at the end of July.

orderofcanadaDr. Roger Bland being invested in the Order of Canada

I had a few interactions with Dr. Bland. A couple of years ago, at the CPA Annual Conference, we started to talk about suicide prevention after a colleague’s presentation, and we ended up debating our interpretation of several papers. I remember breaking into a slight sweat as I realized that he had a near encyclopedic knowledge of the literature.

But if he could be tough in a discussion, he was an amazing collaborator. At the request of a younger colleague, I once asked Dr. Bland for input into a collaborative care project. He was generous of his time and very thoughtful. (Dr. Bland had been a founding member of the Canadian Collaborative Mental Health Initiative, which involved a dozen organizations; he testified before Parliament on the work of this Initiative.) Yet, he had no hesitation talking about how to structure a partnership with primary care and even how to think about our documentation – pro-tip: keep the notes short and focused; family doctors are busy.

In this Reading, we consider the life and contributions of Dr. Roger Bland.

I asked Dr. Scott Patten, the editor-in-chief of The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, to write about him – his work and also what it was like to work with him. Dr. Patten also discusses some of Dr. Bland’s most important papers.

For those who wish to read more about Dr. Bland, I’ve included links to his Globe and Mail obituary. There is also a link to the University of Alberta Department of Psychiatry’s monthly newsletter where colleagues reflect on his life and legacy – the opening quotation is from Dr. Xin-Min Li, the Chair; and Dr. Bland gives an interview – his last – on his career (spoiler alert: his training included 10,000 home visits).

DG

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Reading of the Week: Do Antidepressants Beat Placebo? Does Measurement-based Care Work? Four Papers and Some Thoughts on a Fourth Anniversary

September 27, 2018 /

From the Editor

This month, the Reading of the Week – in its present form – turns four.

Today, the Readings are emailed out from sea to sea to sea. It’s a big evolution from the first Readings, started more than six and a half years ago, with me handing out photocopies of papers on the inpatient ward where I worked.

To celebrate our silk anniversary, I’ve picked four major selections from the past four years. I’ve also included some papers that haven’t been discussed – but should have been.

p9180013Silk: good for a fourth wedding anniversary, but a fourth Reading anniversary?

Enjoy.

DG

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Reading of the Week: Mental Health Care – Doing Bad, Feeling Good? The Hayes et al. Study

September 14, 2017 /

From the Editor

Greetings from Ottawa. This morning, the Canadian Psychiatric Association’s 67th Annual Conference opens here. And the agenda looks great, and includes the release of the new Canadian guidelines for the treatment of schizophrenia.

It’s difficult not to feel upbeat, as people from coast to coast to coast gather to discuss new findings and new ideas on problems like refractory depression and chronic pain and, yes, schizophrenia. And this is a great time to be involved in mental health care – as stigma fades and societal recognition grows.

But how are we doing in terms of actual outcomes? This week, we look at a new British Journal of Psychiatry paper. Hayes et al. consider mortality for those with severe mental illness and the rest of us. Unfortunately, the authors find that the mortality gap has grown with time.

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Ottawa: Host city of this year’s CPA Annual Conference

In this Reading, we review the paper and an editorial, and consider the larger context.

DG

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Reading of the Week: The Best of 2016 (and a Look Ahead to 2017)

December 29, 2016 /

From the Editor

It’s a Reading of the Week tradition that we end the year by considering the best of the previous 12 months.

And this year we have had great material to consider. Readings were drawn from diverse publications, including journals, but also newspapers and magazines; one Reading was a speech given by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. (On the rich diversity of material, I made a similar comment last year.)

If once no one seemed to discuss mental illness, today these issues are being talked about.

But instead of just looking back, let’s take a moment to look ahead.

For those of us concerned about mental health services, 2017 looks like it will be a great year.

Consider:

· Though the provinces and the federal government failed to make an historic deal in 2016 that would invest in mental health services, federal and provincial ministers of health all agree that mental health needs to be a priority, and some type of deal is likely to happen.

· In 2016, Starbucks Canada made headlines for its investment in mental health benefits for employees; it’s highly likely that other companies will follow this lead in the coming months.

· In the past year, more people spoke out about their mental health problems, including a famous singer and an Olympic swimmer; in 2017, more people will find their voice and share their stories.

So – Happy New Year.

Thanks to all those who made suggestions for Readings. And thanks to Dr. David Goldbloom for his three guest contributions, as well as to my father and to my wife for their editing.

There will be no Reading next week.

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Reading of the Week: Remembering Dr. Elliot Goldner

December 22, 2016 /

From the Editor

I met him just once. Dr. Elliot Goldner was invited to give the Distinguished Member Lecture at the Canadian Psychiatric Association’s 2015 Annual Conference in Vancouver. Before a packed room, he gave a lucid speech on the state of the system – a speech peppered with insights and statistics, drawn from numerous papers; it was mesmerizing. After, he stayed to talk with people, and I joined the group that had gathered. Late for my own presentation, I received angry texts from my co-presenter. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to talk further about the access issues that he had so clearly discussed.

But if we met just once, over the years, I have read many of the papers that Dr. Goldner wrote and co-wrote. A Goldner paper – like a Goldner presentation – is impressive and memorable.

Dr. Goldner died in late November.

Dr. Elliot Goldner

In this Reading, we look at his life and career through the comments of some colleagues. We also consider his 2011 Canadian Journal of Psychiatry paper on access and psychiatry.

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