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Physical health care for mentally ill patients and independent life skills training

Department 58 – International Relations
Department 58 – International Relations

Published

Project
RegionPrague
Title of the ProgrammePublic Health Initiatives – Activity I. – Mental health care
Title of the ProjectPhysical health care for mentally ill patients and independent life skills training
Number of the ProjectNF-CZ11-OV-2-030-2015
Project Promoter

Psychiatric Hospital Bohnice

www.plbohnice.cz

 

Name of Norwegian Partner(s)

Universitetssykehuset Nord-Norge HF

Name of Local Partner(s)

Czech technical university in Prague – Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Kladno

Objective of the Project

When treating long-term psychiatrically ill patient we cannot separate psychiatric treatment from somatic treatment. Each serious somatic illness leads to disruption of homeostatic functions including hormonal reregulation, changes in immunity system and the related psychical changes. Some somatic illnesses may lead to mental disorder, for instance connection between atherosclerosis and other systemic inflammatory illnesses and depression has ben well demonstrated. The secondary unwanted effect of psychiatric treatment is increased appetite and weight gain, which compromises patients’ fitness and may lead to development of cardio-vascular or metabolic illnesses (insulin resistance (IR) and diabetes mellitus II type (DMII).
The chief objective is to create a screening system for cardio-vascular and metabolic risks in patients and creation of two standards – methodology for comprehensive therapy for physical health of patients suffering from mental disorders and methodology for comprehensive therapy care / training for integration into normal life during temporary phase (after completing treatment before being released into home care). Physical training methodology comprises of four segments: physiotherapy, kinesio-therapy, ergo-therapy and nutrition care for psychiatric patients. During the initial examination, all patients suffering from somatic difficulties will be evaluated in terms of preventing cardio-vascular risk and diabetes risks. From the practical point of view, the simplest functional variant for implementing this system is to use the existing and widely used Hospital Information System (NIS) HIPPO. Any excessive values will be entered into the system which will use new algorithm to asses patient’s risk / tendency with regard to cardio-vascular disorder or DMII. Psychiatrist will then be able to adjust the treatment and reduce instances of these disorders appearing. Parallel to this, the patient may be sent for further examinations or subsequent care so that the probability of somatic disorders is reduced to minimum.
The methodology for comprehensive therapy care / training for integration into normal life is a subsequent therapy for selected suitable long-term patients suffering from mental disorder during their last therapy phases during their hospital stay. Both methodologies aim to improve therapy and reduce the number of relapses, i.e. improve treatment efficiency.
The project also counts on training hospital staff in both methodologies. Given that both system are directly linked to other therapy care methods, the emphasis will be put on awareness of all hospital staff. Both systems will form a binding methodology for work with patients and all the staff at the hospital will be required to study these information materials.
The second part of the project is to prepare sutiable premises for providing this physical therapy. Primarily, the construction work will focus on the physical therapy part, which needs special equipment and premises for work with patients. The training part of the methodology will also require sutiable and equipped premises. The present premises where physical therapy is offered are entirely unsuitable for the purpose. Training premises are missing entirely.

Project involves two partners: the Czech partners is the Czech Technical University in Prague – the FBMI in Kladno and the Norwegian partner is Universitetssykehuset Nord-Norge (UNN) in Tromso, psychiatric ward.

 

Approved grant

approximately 728 711 EUR

Project DurationStart date:1st January 2015, End date: 30th April 2016