TY - JOUR
T1 - Mental Health Services during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
T2 - Results from the EPA Ambassadors Survey and implications for clinical practice
AU - Rojnic Kuzman, Martina
AU - Vahip, Simavi
AU - Fiorillo, Andrea
AU - Beezhold, Julian
AU - Pinto Da Costa, Mariana
AU - Skugarevsky, Oleg
AU - Dom, Geert
AU - Pajevic, Izet
AU - Mihaljevic Peles, Alma
AU - Mohr, Pavel
AU - Kleinberg, Anne
AU - Chkonia, Eka
AU - Balazs, Judit
AU - Flannery, William
AU - Mazaliauskiene, Ramune
AU - Chihai, Jana
AU - Samochowiec, Jerzy
AU - Cozman, Doina
AU - Mihajlovic, Goran
AU - Izakova, Lubomira
AU - Arango, Celso
AU - Gorwood, Philip
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - The COVID-19 pandemic caused an unprecedented worldwide crisis affecting several sectors, including health, social care, economy and society at large. The World Health Organisation has emphasized that mental health care should be considered as one of the core sectors within the overall COVID-19 health response. By March 2020, recommendations for the organization of mental health services across Europe have been developed by several national and international mental health professional associations. The European Psychiatric Association (EPA) surveyed a large European sample of psychiatrists, namely the EPA Ambassadors , on their clinical experience of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the treatment of psychiatric patients during the month of April 2020 in order to: a) identify and report the views and experiences of European psychiatrists; and b) represent and share these results with mental health policy makers at European level. Based on the recommendations issued by national psychiatric associations and on the results of our survey, we identified important organisational aspects of mental health care during the peak of the first wave of the COVID-19. While most of the recommendations followed the same principles, significant differences between countries emerged in service delivery, mainly relating to referrals to outpatients and for inpatient admission, assessments and treatment for people with mental disorders. Compared to previous months, the number of patients treated by psychiatrists in outpatient settings halved in April 2020. In the same period, the number of mentally ill patients tested for, or developing, COVID-19 was low. In most of countries, traditional face-to-face visits were replaced by online remote consultations. Based on our findings we recommend: 1) to implement professional guidelines into practice and harmonize psychiatric clinical practice across Europe; 2) to monitor the treatment outcomes of patients with COVID-19 and pre-existing mental disorders; 3) to keep psychiatric services active by using all available options (for example telepsychiatry); 4) to increase communication and cooperation between different health care providers.
AB - The COVID-19 pandemic caused an unprecedented worldwide crisis affecting several sectors, including health, social care, economy and society at large. The World Health Organisation has emphasized that mental health care should be considered as one of the core sectors within the overall COVID-19 health response. By March 2020, recommendations for the organization of mental health services across Europe have been developed by several national and international mental health professional associations. The European Psychiatric Association (EPA) surveyed a large European sample of psychiatrists, namely the EPA Ambassadors , on their clinical experience of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the treatment of psychiatric patients during the month of April 2020 in order to: a) identify and report the views and experiences of European psychiatrists; and b) represent and share these results with mental health policy makers at European level. Based on the recommendations issued by national psychiatric associations and on the results of our survey, we identified important organisational aspects of mental health care during the peak of the first wave of the COVID-19. While most of the recommendations followed the same principles, significant differences between countries emerged in service delivery, mainly relating to referrals to outpatients and for inpatient admission, assessments and treatment for people with mental disorders. Compared to previous months, the number of patients treated by psychiatrists in outpatient settings halved in April 2020. In the same period, the number of mentally ill patients tested for, or developing, COVID-19 was low. In most of countries, traditional face-to-face visits were replaced by online remote consultations. Based on our findings we recommend: 1) to implement professional guidelines into practice and harmonize psychiatric clinical practice across Europe; 2) to monitor the treatment outcomes of patients with COVID-19 and pre-existing mental disorders; 3) to keep psychiatric services active by using all available options (for example telepsychiatry); 4) to increase communication and cooperation between different health care providers.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107970389&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1192/j.eurpsy.2021.2215
DO - 10.1192/j.eurpsy.2021.2215
M3 - Review article
C2 - 34103102
AN - SCOPUS:85107970389
SN - 0924-9338
JO - European Psychiatry
JF - European Psychiatry
ER -