July, 2009
Position: Volunteer
Hours: 10 hours per week with a 1 year commitment preferred
Project Title: Psychiatric Disorders and Injury:
The Trauma Center as an Opportunity for Screening, Intervention and
Injury Prevention (CDC sponsored)
Project Description:
Psychiatric disorders are a known risk factor for intentional
injuries such as suicide and assault, but the association between
these disorders and unintentional injuries has not been well
studied. Injury prevention among these patients is particularly
important because, as a group, they consume greater resources after
injury and are at high risk for failure to return to independent
living and for the development of PTSD. Patients admitted to the
San Francisco General Hospital following unintentional injury will
undergo a structured interview by personnel trained by the faculty
from the Department of Psychiatry in order to screen for
psychiatric disorders. It is hoped that this interview process will
lead to a more complete description of this population and identify
methods that might be used to offer some means of intervention,
either in-hospital or post-discharge. Follow-up data via phone
contact with the patient will elicit information on subsequent
mental health treatment and/or recurrent injury. In addition to
establishing true rates of unintentional injury and injury
recidivism in this population, this preliminary study will assist
us in designing an intervention for these high-risk patients.
Position Description:
- The volunteer will be trained by the Principal Investigator on basic research interviewing and the specific measure used in this study.
- He/she will be oriented to the research environment and protocols for recruitment of trauma patients with unintentional injuries.
- Under the supervision of the Project Coordinator he/she will conduct interviews with injured participants.
- Interview data will be entered in the database accurately and completely.
- A second interview will be conducted with study participants by telephone.
Contact: Peg Skaj at pskaj@sfghsurg.ucsf.edu or 415.206.3350 for more information.