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. 2021 Jan;57(1):196-202.
doi: 10.1007/s10597-020-00634-3. Epub 2020 May 21.

Addressing Patients' Mental Health Needs at a Student-Run Free Clinic

Olivia Knoll  1 , Rohini Chakravarthy  2 , Joshua D Cockroft  3 , Nicolas Baddour  3 , Shannon Jordan  4 , Eleanor Weaver  5 , Michael J Fowler  5 , Robert F Miller  5
Affiliations

Addressing Patients' Mental Health Needs at a Student-Run Free Clinic

Olivia Knoll et al. Community Ment Health J. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

Student-run free clinics are uniquely positioned to understand the barriers to accessing mental health resources. We abstracted patient demographics and clinical characteristics from 355 patient charts and examined referral patterns for a subset of patients. Seventy-three (21%) of patients were found to have a psychiatric diagnosis and were more likely to have more medical comorbidities (10 versus 6, p < 0.001), total medications (8 versus 6, p < 0.001, and to be English-speaking (odds ratio: 1.97, p < 0.05). Of patients who received a referral, 37 (60%) were referred to specialty treatment, the majority to a single outside agency provider. 15 (25%) of patients were interviewed. Barriers to successful referral included transportation and medical symptoms. A facilitator of successful referral was concern for individual's health. Language, social stigma, and cost were not cited as barriers. This study describes mental health needs at a SRFC and suggests opportunities for improvement.

Keywords: Medical education; Mental health; Primary care; Referral; Student-run free clinic; Vulnerable populations.

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