C. Young is director of medical student well-being, director, Office of Well-being, and assistant professor of clinical medical education and psychiatry, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California; ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7271-5417 .
M. Juliani is associate director of medical student well-being and associate professor of clinical medical education and psychiatry, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6660-1149 .
Acad Med. 2023 Jul 1;98(7):782-787. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000005169. Epub 2023 Feb 9.
Medical students are at elevated risk for mental health difficulties and may struggle to ask for help. Innovative outreach programs are warranted to reduce barriers and ensure that students receive the professional care they need and deserve. This article provides a 6-year retrospective of the Keck Checks program, a well-established initiative that offered universal 15-minute mental health screenings to every first-year medical student at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California from fall 2016 to fall 2022. This early detection program was designed to combat barriers to seeking mental health care by normalizing the concept of all students meeting with a psychologist early in their academic careers. The Keck Checks program showed promising feasibility, with a single full-time clinician successfully hosting appointments for entire classes of first-year medical students (mean of 189 students per class) during approximately 4 months, in addition to other work duties. Participation rates were high, with 715 eligible students (76.3%) choosing to attend their Keck Check. Students were frequently referred to follow-up services during the Keck Check, including mental health care (n = 360 [50.4%] referred), occupational therapy (n = 72 [10.1%] referred), and academic support services (n = 60 [8.4%] referred). Next steps include possible expansion of similar programs to medical students in years 2 to 4, residents, and physicians, as well as understanding the effect of brief mental health screenings on long-term help-seeking, adherence to mental health treatment plans, and general educational or professional success. Brief, universal mental health screenings are a relatively low-cost, high-impact approach for medical schools to consider in supporting the mental health of their student body.
医学生面临更高的心理健康问题风险，可能难以寻求帮助。有必要开展创新的外展项目，以减少障碍，确保学生获得他们需要和应得的专业护理。本文回顾了凯克检查项目（Keck Checks program）的 6 年情况，该项目是一项成熟的计划，从 2016 年秋季到 2022 年秋季，为南加州大学凯克医学院的每一位一年级医学生提供了 15 分钟的普遍心理健康筛查。这个早期检测项目旨在通过将所有学生在学术生涯早期与心理学家见面的概念正常化，来克服寻求心理健康护理的障碍。凯克检查项目显示出了有希望的可行性，一名全职临床医生在大约 4 个月的时间里成功地为整个一年级医学生班级（每班平均 189 名学生）预约，此外还承担了其他工作任务。参与率很高，共有 715 名符合条件的学生（76.3%）选择参加他们的凯克检查。在凯克检查期间，学生经常被转介到后续服务，包括心理健康护理（360 名[50.4%]转介）、职业治疗（72 名[10.1%]转介）和学术支持服务（60 名[8.4%]转介）。下一步包括可能将类似的项目扩展到 2 至 4 年级的医学生、住院医师和医生，并了解简短心理健康筛查对长期寻求帮助、对心理健康治疗计划的坚持以及总体教育或专业成功的影响。简短的、普遍的心理健康筛查是医学院考虑支持学生心理健康的一种相对低成本、高影响的方法。
