Australasian Psychiatry

A snapshot view of my experiences since developing Multiple Sclerosis and how I have survived the ravages of this condition, so that I remain to this day in active psychiatric practice.

Objective: The aims of this paper are to discuss the issues surrounding multidisciplinary teamwork and to enunciate a set of educational aims and objectives for RANZCP trainees and supervisors to utilise in training rotations that involve the trainee in multidisciplinary teamwork.

Conclusions: The paper identifies a number of key areas in multidiscipli-nary teamwork, including role definition, leadership, clinical responsibility and accountability, and understanding between the professions. The paper proposes that effective teamwork is supported by key factors including agreed goals, an agreed plan, effective communication styles, clear team roles, and competent leadership. The paper also presents the advantages of collaborative teamwork, including continuity of care, the ability to take a comprehensive view of the patient, the availability of a range of skills, and mutual professional support and education.

The purpose of this article is to summarise the nature of psychiatric training in the UK from entry as a trainee to exit where one is eligible for consultant posts. It may also serve to inform how trainees in psychiatry outside of the UK may gain experience of working here.

Objective: The paper describes the origin, and establishment of a gender dysphoria clinic at Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne. It aims at describing the various components of the service, especially the triadic notions of assessment, real life experience and surgery for gender identity disorders.

Conclusion: This is a unique service offered by a public psychiatric service, and the viability of the service depends upon new resources and renewed interest from psychiatrists. Besides clinical services, the clinic offers enormous research, teaching and training opportunities.

Objective: This article reports some of the main findings from the recent national survey of the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents and considers its implications.

Conclusions: There is a high prevalence of mental health problems in Australian children and adolescents, and these have a significant impact on sufferers and their families. We will need to collect ongoing data about child and adolescent mental health to monitor the effectiveness of our response to these problems. ADHD is surprisingly common and greater attention needs to be given to research on ADHD in Australia. The resources devoted to child and adolescent mental health services are currently not adequate or equitable and need boosting, as do efforts to increase primary mental health care for this population. Whole population and selected prevention and early intervention approaches offer the most logical method for lowering the prevalence and burden of disorder. Community education for parents, and a boost to research and training in child and adolescent mental health is required if we are to make a difference.

Objective: To draw attention to the increasing prominence given to issues of safety and security in psychiatric inpatient units at the expense of therapeutic considerations.

Conclusion: Progressive removal of “hazards” in order to prevent self harm, often in response to coronial inquests or law suits, is leading to inpatient units becoming stark and oppressive. We risk returning to a dark era wherein our patients will fear our inpatient facilities, which will have become suicidogenic.