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Objectives:: The aim of this study is to understand better the service implications of patients presenting to an inner city Australian Emergency Department (ED) and Acute Psychiatric Inpatient Service (AIS) with a history of recent crystal methamphetamine use.Methods:: An audit was taken of all patients with recent crystal methamphetamine use presenting to St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne ED and AIS over the month of September 2017. Recorded information included patient demographics, diagnosis, aggressive episodes, restrictive interventions and other risk incidents.Results:: Methamphetamine was related to 21.7% of AIS admissions. Of these individuals, half were involved in aggression towards staff. In the ED, 65.7% of patients with amphetamine use were aggressive to staff and 50% were aggressive towards other patients. There were high rates of physical (69.2%) and mechanical restraint (61.5%) in the ED setting. Methamphetamine use in the AIS was commonly associated with enduring psychotic disorders, whilst those managed exclusively in the ED were most commonly in an acute intoxicated state.Conclusions:: Methamphetamine use presents a significant challenge to EDs and acute mental health services. Additional resources are required to manage these patients and their impact on the health system needs to be factored into future service planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This paper outlines the current status of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists' (RANZCP) Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme, its main drivers and influences, and outlines potential future changes.Conclusions: The three features that appear to be essential for an effective CPD programme are the presence of high internal motivation for CPD participation, membership valuing workplace learning, and to ensure that the content for learning remains largely work-focused. The need to incorporate best learning evidence has witnessed the international trend to include peer, reflective and interactive learning tasks into the CPD programme. For this latter change to be successful, members need to be informed about the value of these new and different learning methodologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]