Functional neurological disorder clinics in Australasia: A binational survey.
Australia
Functional movement disorder
Functional neurological disorder
New Zealand
Psychogenic nonepileptic seizure
Service delivery
Journal
Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia
ISSN: 1532-2653
Titre abrégé: J Clin Neurosci
Pays: Scotland
ID NLM: 9433352
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
08 Jun 2024
08 Jun 2024
Historique:
received:
28
01
2024
revised:
30
05
2024
accepted:
31
05
2024
medline:
10
6
2024
pubmed:
10
6
2024
entrez:
9
6
2024
Statut:
aheadofprint
Résumé
Functional neurological symptom disorder (FND) is characterised by neurological symptoms that are incompatible with recognised neurological or medical conditions. The condition is common in neurology clinics and causes significant morbidity, though timely access to specialist care is difficult. We sought to characterise the availability and clinical practice of specialist FND clinics across Australia and New Zealand. Clinicians or coordinators involved in running specialist FND clinics were identified through clinical contacts with further recruitment by snowball sampling and contacting patient organisations. All clinics completed a survey about details of service delivery, including clinical model, referral sources, criteria, demand, staffing, interventions, clinical data collection, and funding. We identified 16 clinics across Australia and New Zealand. Of these, 12 were in capital cities and four were in regional centres. Three of these focused on paediatric patients and 13 focused on adults. Clinics varied in their clinical model, referral sources, criteria, staffing, interventions, data collection, and funding. Most clinics reported challenges related to coping with demand and obtaining adequate funding. FND clinics in Australia and New Zealand appear to be concentrated predominantly in metropolitan areas and vary considerably in their referral sources, clinical data collection, and models of care. Reported challenges in meeting demand indicate a need for greater resources. The heterogeneity across clinics suggests a need to harmonise clinical standards to facilitate access to evidence-based care.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
Functional neurological symptom disorder (FND) is characterised by neurological symptoms that are incompatible with recognised neurological or medical conditions. The condition is common in neurology clinics and causes significant morbidity, though timely access to specialist care is difficult. We sought to characterise the availability and clinical practice of specialist FND clinics across Australia and New Zealand.
METHODS
METHODS
Clinicians or coordinators involved in running specialist FND clinics were identified through clinical contacts with further recruitment by snowball sampling and contacting patient organisations. All clinics completed a survey about details of service delivery, including clinical model, referral sources, criteria, demand, staffing, interventions, clinical data collection, and funding.
RESULTS
RESULTS
We identified 16 clinics across Australia and New Zealand. Of these, 12 were in capital cities and four were in regional centres. Three of these focused on paediatric patients and 13 focused on adults. Clinics varied in their clinical model, referral sources, criteria, staffing, interventions, data collection, and funding. Most clinics reported challenges related to coping with demand and obtaining adequate funding.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSIONS
FND clinics in Australia and New Zealand appear to be concentrated predominantly in metropolitan areas and vary considerably in their referral sources, clinical data collection, and models of care. Reported challenges in meeting demand indicate a need for greater resources. The heterogeneity across clinics suggests a need to harmonise clinical standards to facilitate access to evidence-based care.
Identifiants
pubmed: 38852427
pii: S0967-5868(24)00237-6
doi: 10.1016/j.jocn.2024.05.043
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
80-85Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.