One thing I want to make clear before we laugh at this additional 2 year study by the Health Services Utilization and Research Commission (HSURC), is that you cannot have a relevant research when the health care system experiences a lack of acute beds, a lack of long term beds, a lack of medical specialists, a lack of doctors, a lack of nurses, a lack of proper equipment, a lack of health care workers in general, a lack of home care programs, a lack of administrative accountability, a lack of everything else. So, within this health care gambling casino, our HSURC's researchers have concluded another useless study stating that more than 80 per cent of the days patients spend in hospital psychiatric wards are unnecessary(1).

Laurie Thompson, who heads the big brains at HSURC, has stated "the study showed that many mental health patients can be effectively treated with short hospital stays followed up by community services." Thompson says the findings are enough to prompt his organization of big brains to call for new guidelines of how mental health patients are treated in Saskatchewan. And HSURC chair Liz Harrison has added she "hopes to do a follow-up study to examine the reasons for the unnecessary hospital stays."

To appreciate the rooted incompetence of these HSURC's researchers, Yorkton psychiatrist Dr. Mirchand has stated that the definition of appropriate use of beds 'is OK if you are a researcher, but not if you are on the front lines. Unless you order me not to admit, I'm not going to follow any of these guidelines(2)."

I wonder if this research commission reinforces its state of psychiatric organizational dementia with the Carver's Policy Governance® model(3).

References/Endnotes

Articles by Mario deSantis

1. Study casts doubt on mental health treatment in Saskatchewan, CBC Saskatchewan, October 31, 2000 http://sask.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2000/10/31/study001031

2. Psychiatric patients 'taking up spaces' in acute care, by Jason Warick, October 31, 2000, The StarPhoenix, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

3. A first impression of the Carver's Policy Governance® Model, by Mario deSantis, September 18, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000_200/desantis229/Carver.html