It all began with paracetamol OD cases during my Covid-era paediatrics medical student clerkship, and a question about why we were seeing as many cases as we had. Grateful to KKH Children’s Emergency’s Dr Angelina Ang for guiding me in exploring the question and translating it into a study protocol that led to this piece in Annals. Along the way, I transitioned from medical student to junior doctor, data seeker to manuscript editor, and it has been such a fulfilling process being part of a younger, newer medical student’s journey as well. Find the full piece here on Annals’ site.

Of note:

In the 1 year prior to presentation, 17.2% of patients had attended a non-mental healthcare institution in the SingHealth cluster for suicidal or self-harm behaviour, 19.5% for medically unexplained symptoms that might possibly be somatisation episodes, and 15.4% for common mild illnesses. Hence, these healthcare visits provide opportunities for psychosocial and suicide risk screening. Indeed, psychosomatic symptoms and frequent healthcare seeking behaviour for minor ailments may be red flags for mental health distress. Therefore, EDs and primary care clinics have an important role to play in conducting efficient psychosocial and suicide risk screening of adolescents, particularly those who seek medical care for non-mental health issues.