Implementation of Early Psychosis Intervention Program ... - EENet

46o More funding and more consistency in funding policy, including availability and use ofsalary and sessional fees. One specific suggestion was to adjust the provincial physician(OHIP) fee schedule to include incentives for serving EPI clients.o Regional or network program role – for example, a regional program could have a dedicatedpsychiatrist/mobile medical team that travels to the communities and/or is available via OTNfor regular follow-up and accessible by phone.o Increasing system capacity – explore different strategies to develop EPI interest/expertiseamong psychiatrists – to create a larger pool of EPI aware psychiatrists to draw from.o Family physician pool – explore strategies to develop EPI interest/expertise among familyphysicians including awareness of the need for medical monitoring.4. Comprehensive assessmentStandard 2 sets out the minimum requirements for a comprehensive assessment for clients whoare referred to EPI programs and appear to meet the eligibility criteria. The requirements includeactive engagement with client, assessing risk and presenting symptoms, assessing psychiatric,physical health and psycho-social dimensions, in addition to consideration of vocational,education and occupational domains in the individual’s life.Summary of Results (see Table 11):o Programs reported that their comprehensive assessment ‘usually’ included a psychiatricexam, assessment of presenting symptoms, risk assessment, substance use assessment,developmental history, psychosocial assessment, cultural assessment, family information,review of client understanding.o Less frequently the assessment addressed education (62%) and vocational issues (52%).o Programs reported low frequency of providing a physical exam (23%) and neurologicalassessment (15%), especially for community agency sponsored and small programs.o Psychiatric assessments were provided less often by small than large programs;developmental assessments were provided less often by community agency than hospitalsponsored programs.o Programs may benefit from written guidelines and supporting tools such as the OntarioCommon Assessment of Need 47 to ensure routine focus on all elements, but may also needassistance to access necessary expertise.o Some elements were not seen as immediate priority by staff and were assessed after initialassessment – physical, vocational.47 Ontario Common Assessment of Need is a standardized client assessment being implemented in communitymental health programs in Ontario.