title: Development and implementation of a 'Mental Health Finder' software tool within an electronic medical record system.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In Ireland, as in many other healthcare systems, mental health service provision is being reconfigured with a move toward more care in the community, and particularly primary care. Recording and surveillance systems for mental health information and activities in primary care are needed for service planning and quality improvement.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We describe the development and initial implementation of a software tool ('mental health finder') within a widely used primary care electronic medical record system (EMR) in Ireland to enable large-scale data collection on the epidemiology and management of mental health and substance use problems among patients attending general practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  In collaboration with the Irish Primary Care Research Network (IPCRN), we developed the 'Mental Health Finder' as a software plug-in to a commonly used primary care EMR system to facilitate data collection on mental health diagnoses and pharmacological treatments among patients. The finder searches for and identifies patients based on diagnostic coding and/or prescribed medicines. It was initially implemented among a convenience sample of six GP practices.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Prevalence of mental health and substance use problems across the six practices, as identified by the finder, was 9.4% (range 6.9-12.7%). 61.9% of identified patients were female; 25.8% were private patients. One-third (33.4%) of identified patients were prescribed more than one class of psychotropic medication. Of the patients identified by the finder, 89.9% were identifiable via prescribing data, 23.7% via diagnostic coding.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The finder is a feasible and promising methodology for large-scale data collection on mental health problems in primary care.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland. davina.swan@ucd.ie.|Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK. davina.swan@ucd.ie.|School of Medicine and Medical Sciences, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland. davina.swan@ucd.ie.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Swan
authors.affiliation: Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hannigan
authors.affiliation: Irish Primary Care Research Network, The Irish College of General Practitioners, 4/5 Lincoln Place, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Higgins
authors.affiliation: Irish Primary Care Research Network, The Irish College of General Practitioners, 4/5 Lincoln Place, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McDonnell
authors.affiliation: Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Meagher
authors.affiliation: Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.|School of Medicine and Medical Sciences, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cullen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D005260:Female; D058006:General Practice / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007494:Ireland; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008875:Middle Aged; D055553:Prescription Drugs / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D058996:Quality Improvement; D012984:Software; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D055553:Prescription Drugs
keywords: Electronic medical record; Mental health; Primary care; Software plug-in; Substance use