PURPOSE: To share our strategies in boosting employment rate among stable psychiatric patients and discuss the lessons learnt.
PARTICULAR FOCUS: Multifaceted strategies were remodelled to ensure a three-dimensional optimisation: (1) strengthening clinical service to ensure stable disease and appropriate patient selection through battery of assessments, (2) provision of psychosocial support to boost self-esteem and foster discipline among patients through encouragement, guidance and regular monitoring by the multidisciplinary community mental health team and (3) encourage willingness and confidence among stakeholders and local market to host job opportunities to stable mental health patients.
OVERVIEW: The yearly employment rate among our stable psychiatric patients under supported employment programme from 2020 to 2021 was 28.6% (2/7) and 30.0% (3/10), respectively. A qualitative survey found the main hindrance to recruitment were employers' scepticism on work performance, while poor work retention was due to patients' lack of specific skill set and discipline to adhere to routine. We restructured our supported employment programme by adding the role of community mental health facility to foster discipline and routine for 6 months prior to referral to a job coach. Until June 2022, two out of five patients managed to secure job positions (40.0%). Despite our efforts to improve employment with the instituted remedial strategy, we still fail to reach the minimum standard set by ministry. Future plan will focus on tailoring individual interests to a specific set of skills that match industrial expectation prior to seeking employment. Additionally, enhancing public education using social media may foster better inclusion of psychiatric patients and social acceptance.
METHODS: The following electronic databases were searched from inception to July 2019: ScienceDirect, PubMed, and EMBASE. The report was made in accordance with the principles of PRISMA guidelines. The search terms used were related to drones including unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and unmanned aerial system (UAS), and related to obstetric/maternal including obstetric emergencies and postpartum hemorrhage. Studies were selected if the intervention used were drones, and if any direct or indirect maternal health indicators were reported. Meta-analysis was not done throughout the study in view of the anticipated heterogeneity of each study.
RESULTS: Our initial search yielded a total of 244 relevant publications, from which 236 were carried forward for a title and abstract screening. After careful examination, only two were included for systematic synthesis. Among the reasons for exclusion were irrelevance to maternal health purpose, and irrelevance to drone applications in healthcare. An updated search yielded one additional study that was also included. Overall, two studies assessed drones for blood products delivery, and one study used drones to transport blood samples.
CONCLUSION: A significant deficiency was found in the number of reported studies analyzing mode of medical products transportation and adaptation of drones in maternal healthcare. Future drone research framework should focus on maternal healthcare-specific drone applications in order to reap benefits in this area.