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Improving Medication Compliance in Psychiatric Patients

 Improving Medication Compliance Mnemonic : Informed Decision Activated Concerning Schizophrenia.  We should give Information before starting the medications. This should include the name, mechanism of action, effects, and side effects of the drugs.  The patient should actively take part in the decision , and he should actively discuss the information with the clinician.  At each visit, the clinician should ask the patient should if they have any CONCERNS or questions about the drug which he should address.  Family therapy for SCHIZOPHRENIA. 

Features suggestive of vascular dementia against dementia of Alzheimer type

The following features suggest vascular dementia Patchy deficits Better free recall Fewer recall intrusions Early apathy Poor verbal fluency Vascular risk factors Relative preservation of personality Neurological signs e.g pseudobulbar palsy, brisk reflexes Erratic progression Signs of hypertension and arteriolocsclerosis on physical examination  The Hatchinski ischemic score is used to differentiate between the two. score above 6 suggests vascular dementia and below 5 suggestive dementia of Alzheimer type.

ADVOKATE: A Mnemonic Tool for the Assessment of Eyewitness Evidence

ADVOKATE: A Mnemonic Tool for Assessment of Eyewitness Evidence A tool for assessing eyewitness  ADVOKATE is a tool designed to assess eyewitness evidence and how much it is reliable. It requires the user to respond to several statements/questions. Forensic psychologists, police or investigative officer can do it. The mnemonic ADVOKATE stands for: A = amount of time under observation (event and act) D = distance from suspect V = visibility (night-day, lighting) O = obstruction to the view of the witness K = known or seen before when and where (suspect) A = any special reason for remembering the subject T = time-lapse (how long has it been since witness saw suspect) E = error or material discrepancy between the description given first or any subsequent accounts by a witness.  Working with suspects (college.police.uk)

Clozapine Induced Neutropenia

Clozapine Induced Neutropenia It has a risk of 2.7% in patients on clozapine. Fifty percent occur in the first 18 months. The risk is dose-independent, idiosyncratic like neuroleptic malignant syndrome. Risk of agranulocytosis is with clozapine is 0.8%.   Risk factors:  Afro-Caribbean ethnicity, early age, low baseline WCC Mechanism:  the mechanism of neutropenia and agranulocytosis is unclear

Dementia: An Overview & Recent Advances in Management

Dementia: An Overview & Recent Advances in Management Prof. Arsalan Ahmad, Consultant Neurologist, Shifa International Hospital. The Institute of Psychiatry, Benazir Bhutto Hospital, hosted a lecture on “Dementia: An Overview & Recent Advances in Management”, on the fourth of August 2016. The guest speaker was Prof. Arsalan Ahmad, the Consultant Neurologist at Shifa International Hospital. The audience included psychologists and residents and consultants from both neurology and psychiatry. Prof. Fareed A. Minhas, Head of the Institute, set the stage for Prof. Arsalan’s lecture.  Part of our tradition, Prof. Minhas said, is to host these guest lectures. He alluded towards the overlap between psychiatry and neurology; many psychiatric patients present to neurologists and vice versa. Invariably, he said, a good evaluation would cause unveiling problems that require both neurological and psychiatric attention. He shared with the audience his satisfaction with the residents from the