Results (
Thai) 1:
[Copy]Copied!
Ireland and Norway have many similarities from a geographic and demographic perspective and both have a strong commitment to primary care and public health. Both countries have similar sized populations, but economically there are differences in relation to poverty, life expectancy is lower, and inequalities are higher in Ireland [29]. The public health system in Ireland is a two-tier system where public and private sectors exist and is governed by the Health Act of 2004 [30]. Following this legislation, the Health Service Executive was established and is responsible for providing health and personal social services to the population. The public health system has a number of on-going issues which could have an impact on primary care services. These include long waiting lists; over capacity on hospital beds; patients awaiting admission on trolleys in the emergency departments; moratorium on staff recruitment leading to staff shortages. Ireland’s two-tier health care system has failed in many respects to deliver adequate, fair, and equitable services to meet people’s needs [31]. Not all citizens in Ireland have free health care at the point of delivery as it is based on income. Many health care payment schemes operate such as the General Medical Services (GMS) card, Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI), and drug payment scheme. Nearly 40% of the population are covered by a medical card or a GP visit card [32]. Mental health services have not been prioritised by government and the quality of services lag behind international best practice. There is an ongoing recognition for the need for a shift from the medical model and in-patient treatment to a holistic model of care with recovery and community services at its core [33,34].In contrast to Ireland, Norway has universal health care for its entire population and free health care at the point of delivery. Municipalities are responsible for managing the services within Norwegian laws and regulations [35]. The Norwegian government has recognized the need for public health services to address mental health issues for women during pregnancy and after childbirth and acknowledges that well-child clinics are an especially suited arena for preventive mental and social work [36]. In both “The women’s health strategy” in St. meld. nr. 16 (2002-2003) [37] and the government’s “Strategic plan for the mental health of children and adolescents…” is the commitment to expand and strengthen support for women in this period of their lives. There is also a wish to increase research on women’s mental health during pregnancy and birth [38], which also reflects the ethos of the Vision for Change strategy document in Ireland [33]. In a recent report from Australia [39], perinatal depression is estimated to cost the Australian economy $433.52 million in 2012, in financial costs only ($4,509 per person with perinatal depression). In addition to the financial costs, perinatal depression equates to a loss of 20,732 disability-adjusted life year DALYs in 2012, which represents a significant disease burden.There are no comparable figures available for Ireland and Norway, but it is reasonable to assume similar costs to their economies. Guidelines for treatment of postpartum mental disorders are lacking in both Ireland and Norway [33, 40, 41], and resources have not been increased either in Norway [36, 42] or in Ireland [29]. Furthermore, hospital stay for women after delivery has been dramatically shortened in the last decades, from previous 5–7 days to currently 1-2 days. Since primary health care has not received the required amount of resources [33, 43], support for new families is significantly impaired. There is need for clinical nursing service improvement both from a resource and evidence based perspectives specifically for the identification and management of PND.In Ireland and Norway, public health nurses (PHNs) are geographically based and provide a nursing service to new mothers and their infants in the community. Ireland has generalist public health nurses, which means they care for all persons within their defined geographic area from the cradle to the grave [44]. In contrast, PHNs in Norway are specialists and are responsible for preventive services provided to infants, children, adolescents, and their families [45]. Maternity services are free which entitles every woman to General Practice (GP) and hospital obstetric services. In general, midwives are employed to work in the hospital system with some regions having minimal community based service for up to 10 days postpartum. The work of PHNs consists of health promotion and primary prevention, which means promoting mental and physical health as well as good social and environmental conditions and preventing disease, injury, and disability [44, 46]. PHNs in Ireland are mandated to visit all new mothers within 48 hours of discharge from hospital, and similar to PHNs in Ireland are mandated to visit all new mothers within 48 hours of discharge from hospital, and similar to PHNs in Norway who offer home visits within the early weeks after birth and attendance at well baby clinics until the child is four years [40] or school going age [44]. Given the short length of stay at the maternity wards, this home visit is especially important to support the new family. Support and information from the PHN at the home visit can have a preventive effect on depressive symptoms in postpartum women [20, 47].
4. Identification of Postnatal Depression
On a very basic level, Norway has far more PHNs devoted specifically to public health issues, with one client group, compared with PHNs in Ireland providing services to all client groups with a preventative and curative remit. In Norway, there are 2069 PHNs employed in municipal family health clinics and school health services, and in Ireland there were 1702 PHNs employed in the Irish Health Service Executive [29]. PHNs in both countries have the most contact with mothers in the postpartum period and therefore are in a prime position to assess for postnatal depression and facilitate and help mothers to mobilise support from their social network and also to provide support when none are available. In Norway, recent reports suggest that there is not enough research of satisfactory quality available to give recommendations for how to work with PND in the municipalities [8, 48, 49]. In February 2013, The National Council for Priority Setting in Health Care in Norway [8] recommended that screening for postnatal depression should not be introduced on a national basis at the present time. The decision was based on that the EPDS screening does not meet the WHO criteria for when screening should be performed. However, the recent position paper by the Marcé Society recommends undertaking universal psychosocial assessment in perinatal women, as long as it takes place within an integrated care model [10]. In Ireland, recommendations are made for interventions to address PND which may have a wide range of socioeconomic benefits, extending well beyond the impact of the intervention on the mother [33]. Screening for PND is currently not a routine component of the PHN postnatal visit, and thus, many women may not be assessed [50].
On a very basic level, Norway has far more PHNs devoted specifically to public health issues, with one client group, compared with PHNs in Ireland providing services to all client groups with a preventative and curative remit. In Norway, there are 2069 PHNs employed in municipal family health clinics and school health services, and in Ireland there were 1702 PHNs employed in the Irish Health Service Executive [29]. PHNs in both countries have the most contact with mothers in the postpartum period and therefore are in a prime position to assess for postnatal depression and facilitate and help mothers to mobilise support from their social network and also to provide support when none are available. In Norway, recent reports suggest that there is not enough research of satisfactory quality available to give recommendations for how to work with PND in the municipalities [8, 48, 49]. In February 2013, The National Council for Priority Setting in Health Care in Norway [8] recommended that screening for postnatal depression should not be introduced on a national basis at the present time. The decision was based on that the EPDS screening does not meet the WHO criteria for when screening should be performed. However, the recent position paper by the Marcé Society recommends undertaking universal psychosocial assessment in perinatal women, as long as it takes place within an integrated care model [10]. In Ireland, recommendations are made for interventions to address PND which may have a wide range of socioeconomic benefits, extending well beyond the impact of the intervention on the mother [33]. Screening for PND is currently not a routine component of the PHN postnatal visit, and thus, many women may not be assessed [50].
Being translated, please wait..
