W15 – COVID-19 and Canadian Psychiatry: An Update on the Canadian Psychiatric Association’s Position Statement

W15 – COVID-19 and Canadian Psychiatry: An Update on the Canadian Psychiatric Association’s Position Statement

Thursday, Oct. 27
15:45 – 16:45 (1 hr)
Meeting Room: Sheraton Hall A (Lower Concourse)
Abraham Rudnick*, MD; Sarah Hanafi, MD; M.S. Renuka Prasad, MD, FRCPC; Georgina Zahirney, MD, FRCPC; Yanbo Zhang, MD, FRCPC
Supported by the Public Policy Committee

CanMEDS Roles:

  1. Medical Expert
  2. Scholar
  3. Health Advocate

At the end of this session, participants will be able to: 1) Enhance and demonstrate knowledge of the CPA’s position statement on COVID-19 and Canadian psychiatry; 2) Enhance and demonstrate knowledge of updated evidence related to the CPA’s position statement on COVID-19 and Canadian psychiatry; and 3) Enhance and demonstrate knowledge of research and development needs associated with the relation between COVID-19 and Canadian (and other) psychiatry.

The Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA) approved a position statement titled “COVID-19 and Canadian psychiatry” in November 2020. This presentation provides updated information and facilitates discussion related to this position statement and its update. The position statement was approved during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has persisted to date and has demonstrated recurrent waves and accumulating information, including research evidence about the impact of this pandemic on mental health and related services. Although the position statement was comprehensive and balanced, recent evidence provides further clarity and raises additional issues for consideration. For example, the prevalence of mental health challenges has increased, and long COVID-19 syndrome as a post-acute aspect of infection with a COVID-19 pathogen has turned out to involve neuropsychiatric and other mental health challenges that require mental health care, among other services. As expected, this pandemic has taken a toll on mental health care human resources, such as with increased burnout and related service challenges, further taxing the already overburdened psychiatric and other mental health care workforce. An unseen benefit is that the initial pandemic restrictions on in-person psychiatric and other mental health care ambulatory services have facilitated widespread use of remotely delivered care with Internet-based secure software, expanding access to mental health care in Canada and elsewhere.

References:

  1. Hanafi S, Dufour M, Dore-Gauthier V, et al. COVID-19 and Canadian psychiatry: La COVID-19 et la psychiatrie au Canada. Can J Psychiatry 2021;66:832–41.
  2. Leung CM, Ho MK, Bharwani AA, et al. Mental disorders following COVID-19 and other epidemics: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Transl Psychiatry 2022;12:205.