Analyzing Alternative Behavioral Crisis Response Models in the U.S.

In the U.S., communities often rely on the criminal justice system to respond to, house, and treat individuals with mental health and substance use problems. This has resulted in a crisis response system that relies on police officers to respond to mental and behavioral health crisis due to a lack of options. Unfortunately, these encounters can be dangerous for individuals in need of help. Additionally, this has led to a disproportionate number of individuals with mental illness and substance use disorders being housed in prisons. Alternatives to our current crisis response system already exist in the form of community-based mobile crisis response teams that rely on mental health workers instead of law enforcement. This review examines such programs that have been enacted in multiple cities across the country. Analysis of these alternative crisis response models shows that community-based programs are more effective, efficient, and safer than the current standard that relies on law enforcement. This analysis highlights the need for the establishment of community-based crisis response teams as the national standard.

Development of a Health Policy Elective for Medical Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pilot Study.

INTRODUCTION: In Central Brooklyn, Downstate Health Sciences University (DHSU) serves a diverse population that has experienced worsening rates of chronic disease and elevated rates of morbidity and mortality related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The medical community has shown an interest in addressing clinical and nonclinical disparities impacting patients' health and safety. As such, health policy knowledge is of special importance during a time of social and political unrest. Health policy and advocacy are listed in medical education guidelines, but there is a lack of standardized guidelines for implementation of a robust health policy curriculum within the rigors of clinical education. METHODS: Faculty from the Department of Family Medicine and the Department of Health Policy and Administration devised a health policy curriculum to be delivered virtually in the wake of COVID-19-related quarantine. To assess the effectiveness of the curriculum, we administered pre- and postsurveys composed of learning objectives placed on a 5-point Likert scale, at each learning session. RESULTS: The results of these surveys showed an increase in confidence in the learning objectives of each educational session. CONCLUSION: This pilot study warrants further research to fully assess the effect of a health policy curriculum on students' confidence in health policy knowledge and skills."Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."-Nelson Mandela.

From Dispensaries to Community Health Centers: Health Delivery Change Across the Twentieth Century.

This piece examines the historical forces and forebears that preceded, and helped shape, community health centers. Though the current iteration of community health centers date from the 1960s, their (deeper) roots go back to the earliest years of the twentieth century. They began life as largely urban phenomena, and rode the wave of the larger program of Progressive-era political and socioeconomic reforms.

The political abuse of international health system comparisons.

Though the science of medicine subscribes to learning from best practices and the transmission of superior treatment regimens across national boundaries, the same ethos does not inform political debates surrounding health system reform. The Canadian and English health systems have been used - and, more frequently - abused by American politicians in their quest to support their own model of reform, or preserve the status quo.