Our new Acute Psychiatric Emergencies (APEx) course has been developed by a working group of experts in emergency medicine and liaison psychiatry and the course ran for the first time in July in Manchester.
A multi-disciplinary faculty and candidate group prepared for the course with the APEx course manual and e-learning modules. Both resources cover the theoretical structured approach to managing mental health crisis and include specific patient presentations including self-harm, aggression, apparently drunk, behaving strangely and acute confusion. Each presentation includes real example cases which help to bring the structured approach to life.
APEx also covers staff and patient safety, human factors and communication; and legal aspects of acute psychiatric care. The two-day face-to-face course then brought the theory to life as candidates experienced the practical approach to managing mental health crisis through a series of lectures, demonstrations, workshops and 14 hands-on simulations. Professional actors simulated the presenting patients, providing realistic scenarios for the practical elements of the course.
The feedback from faculty and candidates was extremely positive with particular mention for:
• The power of the multi-disciplinary approach to learning;
• The practical, combined and unified mental health and ED structure; and
• The inclusion of a service user experience in both the e-learning and the face-to-face course
Our next course is taking place on 9th-10th October in Manchester and as you will see in the videos from both faculty and candidates, it is recommended to anyone working in emergency medicine or liaison psychiatry:
• Faculty – http://www.alsg.org/uk/APEX
• Candidates - http://www.alsg.org/uk/testimonials
The course is starting out life at ALSG in Manchester, but it is developed in the same way as other ALSG courses, so that it can be run in training centres across the UK and indeed overseas (courses are already planned for Scotland and Switzerland!).
Our quality assurance structure guarantees the approach and standards are consistent wherever the course runs; ensures the APEx certificate is transferable; and provides assurance as to training and competencies achieved. It also means that the training can be delivered to as many people as possible, cost effectively.
What next for APEx? The word is already spreading about our APEx course. We have been approached by colleagues working with children and young people with mental health crises and others working with all patients with mental health crises in the community setting.
We have started the work involved in translating what we have learned so far on the APEx course into these settings and hope to launch these courses next year. ALSG we strive to save lives by providing training and we will continue to support and develop training for those caring for all patients with mental health crises.
The first APEx course experience convinced us that they will make a difference.
For more information about APEx please visit our website here - http://www.alsg.org/uk/APEX or on Twitter @_ALSG_