The Evidence Speaks Series is a recurring feature highlighting the latest in Advancing Health research. This series features summaries of select publications and is designed to keep media and the research community up to date with the Centre’s current research results in the health outcomes field.
To ensure this research is quick and easy to share, you are welcome to save the social cards and use as you see fit.
Timely outpatient mental health care could reduce hospitalization among immigrant adolescents
Outpatient Care Before and After Mental Health Hospitalization for Adolescents from Immigrant, Refugee and Non-immigrant Backgrounds in British Columbia: A Retrospective Cohort Study
Gadermann A, Petteni MG, Magee C, Janus M, Georgiades K, Sassi R, Guhn M, Puyat JH. Can J Psychiatry. 2025.
Mental health disorders significantly affect an individual’s overall health and participation in society, with the majority of them beginning before the age of 14. In this context, child and youth mental health services and care optimization are increasingly important, especially with Canada’s growing, diverse population that includes first- and second-generation immigrants as well as refugees. To better understand youth mental health care needs, a team of researchers, including Advancing Health scientists Drs. Anne Gadermann and Joseph Puyat, examined BC adolescent mental health care access before and after hospitalization. They studied a group of 5,314 youths aged 10–18 who had experienced mental health-related hospitalization from 2008 and 2016. Using linked administrative health service data and migration information, they tracked access to care in the lead-up and aftermath of their hospitalization. Researchers found that nearly 70 per cent had at least one mental health visit within the two years before their hospitalization, and 50 per cent had a related medical visit after discharge. There was a difference in access depending on migration background: 1st and 2nd generation immigrants were less likely to access any health care compared to non-immigrant youth. This was particularly stark among first-generation refugees, with 56 per cent not having had a visit in the two years before their hospitalization. Post-hospitalization, refugee youth were also the group with the fewest mental health visits. However, second-generation immigrants were most likely to access those services in the same time period. Overall, people diagnosed with mood disorders were more likely to have attended mental health services than people with acute anxiety, psychotic disorders, substance use, or self-harm conditions.
The study also revealed that almost one-third of adolescents did not have a documented mental health visit in the two years before their hospitalization. This suggests that many did not access physician-based care until their condition escalated to require hospitalization, the issue being particularly pronounced among first-generation refugees. These findings underscore an urgent need for early intervention through outpatient services to reduce the likelihood of hospitalization being the first point of medical contact — especially for newcomers to Canada.
How ICU nurses make decisions in the face of alarm fatigue
Exploring intensive care unit nurses’ decision-making in alarm management: A qualitative study. Haskell, N., Banner, D., Bouchal, S. R. & King-Shier, K. Hear. Lung. 2026.
Ring ring, ring ring! If you’re surrounded by too many blaring alarms, you might just start to tune them out. It called “alarm fatigue,” and it’s a major issue facing nurses that can put patients at significant risk. Like the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, nurses might find themselves primed to ignore important alarms buried among the noise of unimportant ones. We need better solutions for handling alarm fatigue, but that requires more information on how nurses respond to alarms and make decisions about them. That’s why a team of researchers, including Advancing Health scientist Dr. Davina Banner, conducted interviews with 12 ICU nurses in Calgary, Alberta to learn more.
The ICU nurses’ decision-making was found to break down into steps: (1) awareness of alarms; (2) ranking those alarms based on importance and urgency, and (3) responding and prioritizing the different alarms. Many factors impact how nurses said they respond to alarms, including whether the unit is understaffed, how fatigued the nurse is, other noises in the space, and individual personalities. Nurses said they prioritize urgent alarms like high-priority electrocardiograms or IV pumps delivering life-sustaining medications. To reduce alarm fatigue, the researchers suggest reducing unnecessary alarms, standardizing alarm-related education across both nurses and hospital administration, and building mentorship opportunities and a positive safety culture.
The COVID-19 pandemic had major negative impacts on hepatitis c testing rates in Ontario
The Impact of COVID-19 and Related Public Health Measures on Hepatitis C Testing in Ontario, Canada. Sahakyan, Y., Drover, S., Greenwald, Z., Wong, W., Kopp, A., Morrow, R., Janjua, N., Sander, B. Viruses. 2025.
Hepatitis C is a sexually transmitted and blood-borne infection that which, if left unchecked, can cause major long-term damage to the liver. Canada is part of a major international effort to eliminate the hepatitis C virus (HCV) by 2030, and testing for the infection is a major part of that initiative. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, testing in Ontario had been steadily increasing. A team of researchers, including Advancing Health scientist Dr. Naveed Janjua, wanted to evaluate what impact, if any, the pandemic had on those initiatives. They conducted a study that included all Ontario residents with any electronic record of having undergone HCV testing both before or during the pandemic. These records were linked to administrative datasets in order to determine demographic information such as age and sex. The researchers also looked at whether individuals were members of populations with higher risks of HCV infection, including immigrants, people experiencing homelessness, people who use injection drugs, and people living with HIV. All together researchers analyzed data from over 3 million people and compared the rate of HCV testing before and after the pandemic. They also compared testing rates to projected testing levels that would have been expected without a pandemic (called counterfactual estimates).
Overall, monthly HCV testing dropped significantly when the pandemic began. Compared to the counterfactual estimates, researchers found a relative decrease in HCV testing rates of 47 per cent in 2020, 34 per cent in 2021, and 41 per cent in 2022. While these drops were likely caused by stay-at-home orders and the relocation of testing lab resources, it is possible that other factors unrelated to the pandemic were at play. Nonetheless, these results show and serious and long-term negative impact on testing. The groups most impacted were people living with HIV, people experiencing homelessness, and people who use injection drugs. The team recommends tailored interventions, such as mobile clinics to provide point-of-care testing, are needed to return testing to pre-pandemic levels and support Canada’s 2030 HCV elimination targets.
