Rural Integrated Primary Care Psychiatry Programme: a systems approach to education, training and service integration.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the development of a rural primary care psychiatry programme, within a stepped collaborative care model.


CONCLUSIONS
Development of a system-wide approach to the provision of mental health services offers the opportunity to increase the proportion of people with mental health problems who receive effective treatment. In addition, it enables allocation of resources and matching of interventions to patient preference and clinical need. This is particularly important in rural areas where there is a shortage of specialist mental health services and practitioners.
Judd
Fiona
F
Centre for Rural Mental Health, Bendigo Health Care Group, PO Box 126, Bendigo,Victoria 3552, Australia. fjudd@bendigohealth.org.au
Davis
Julian
J
Hodgins
Gene
G
Scopelliti
Joe
J
Agin
Biliana
B
Hulbert
Carol
C
D003150:Community Health Workers / Q000193:education; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003479:Curriculum; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000193:education*; D012423:Rural Health / Q000639:trends*; D013038:Specialization / Q000639:trends; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014739:Victoria