Emergency Mental Health Workshop

Posted Wednesday 27 November 2024 | Health Workforce Queensland

Mental health disorders are estimated to affect almost half of Australians aged 16–85 at some point during their lifetime, with one in five affected during a 12-month period. GPs are reported to be the most common providers of mental health services and are often the first point of contact for patients experiencing these types of problems.

The objective of this two-day workshop is to provide rural doctors and nurses with cross domain, team-based learning opportunities across a number of topics such as common mental health disorders, acute presentations, the mental state examination, legislation, capacity, courts and confidentiality, the assessment and management of suicide risk, and various case studies.

Learning objectives

1. Identify key mental health concepts and disorders including Diagnostic Criteria, Epidemiology and Presentations.
2. Execute a mental state examination and identify phenomenology associated with acute mental health presentations.
3. Develop and implement a risk assessment and management plan.
4. Explain the key components of assessing the capacity and the role of substituted decision making in emergency mental health and the use of the MHA 2016.
5. Use contemporary and evidence-based pharmacotherapy guidelines for common acute mental health problems and key concepts in the non-pharmacological of mental health crisis situations.
6. Determine an appropriate management plan to address acute presentations of common mental disorders.