From: Continuity of care as experienced by mental health service users - a qualitative study
Suggestion | Example | Relevant theme |
---|---|---|
Talk to each other | Talk to the other professionals involved about service users and their needs and care plans | Knowledge |
Attend collaborative meetings | Contact persons in different services, i.e. general practitioner and contact persons in health or welfare services, should meet regularly and exchange information about and with service users about their situations and planned interventions | Knowledge Mutuality |
Do not change contact person | Keep the same contact person over time, do not change contact person or therapist | Relationship |
Inform service users in advance about changes in contact persons | Inform service users before changing contact persons. Failure to do so makes it seem like you do not care about them | Knowledge Relationship |
Show service users that you care about their situations | Ask service users how they are doing, in addition to asking what you can do for them | Relationship |
Take peoples’ anxiety into consideration | Take into consideration the fact that many service users suffer from anxiety in social situations and in situations where they have to deal with professional helpers | Relationship |
Do not expect service users to act perfectly | Service users may have a feeling that the system demands they act perfectly in order to deserve help. Not feeling this demand would make it easier for service users to admit it when they are wrong | Relationship Mutuality |
Work quicker | Do not take such a long time, for instance with making decisions that are important for the service users’ recovery or financial situation. Give the service users information swiftly | Timeliness Knowledge |
Provide information about (planned) evaluations, treatments and support | Provide information ahead of planned treatment and care | Knowledge |
Convey the same messages | Convey the same messages as the other professionals involved. Different information creates confusion | Knowledge |
Make use of the waiting time | Offer an opportunity for someone to talk to during waiting time prior to treatment or interventions. During the waiting time, you could provide the service users with information about specific therapies or support interventions and about what is going to take place during the first meeting | Timeliness Knowledge |
Do not be square | Do not follow rules systematically if the rules create impractical or paradoxical situations for the service users | Choice Mutuality |
Be open to contact, also between scheduled appointments or across service boundaries | Be open for contact, for instance by being available by telephone between scheduled appointments, or after the therapy has ended | Mutuality Choice |
Provide the person with follow-up over time | Schedule a follow-up appointment with the service users after their treatment or contact has ended, for instance some months ahead. Such an appointment gives service users a feeling of security, and they get an opportunity to discuss their problems and repeat what they have learned about how to deal with the problems | Relationship |
Include family in information and contact | Invite next-of-kin to meetings and share relevant information with them in other ways | Knowledge Relationship |
Provide general information about mental health problems, available services and treatments | Make general information available, for instance on the internet pages of the municipality, in media or schools. Include telephone numbers and information about where to find help | Knowledge |