Key Points Background A systematic approach to side effects of medications should include consideration of the nature, severity, and timing of symptoms to facilitate optimal management of such side effects. History Many medications (e.g., nefazodone) previously used in psychiatric disorders,…
Overview The purpose of this chapter is to give psychiatric providers of consultation-liaison (C-L) services an understanding of the complex business aspects of their work. Understanding that appropriately adhering to the often-confusing guidelines for reimbursement can be stressful to clinicians…
Overview The practice of medicine is focused on disease, not health, and on treatment, not primary prevention. Therefore, it is not surprising that physicians have difficulty maintaining their own health, minimizing stress, and preventing burnout in their own lives. The…
Overview Suicide, or intentional self-harm with the intent of causing death, is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for more than 40,000 deaths each year. Non-lethal self-inflicted injuries are even more prevalent, accounting for nearly…
Overview Similar to adults, hospitalized children can develop psychiatric illness as a result of psychosocial stresses of hospitalization (e.g., loss of control, threat of illness, separation from caregivers), effects of general medical conditions (e.g., infections), use of medications or substances…
Overview The mental health professional in the general medical setting faces many challenges posed by co-morbid medical disorders and concurrent medications that hinder the detection of psychiatric symptoms and alter the effectiveness, tolerability, and safety of psychiatric drug treatment. In…
Including a chapter on the psychiatric care of patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) runs the risk of suggesting that the evaluation and treatment of patients differ depending on patients' location in the general hospital. Such a risk evokes…
Overview General hospital psychiatrists are frequently asked to consult on patients with renal disease, a patient population that accounts for approximately 4.5 million adults in the United States ( cdc.org ). Among these individuals, psychiatric consultation is most commonly requested…
Overview Caring for cardiac patients can present a host of dilemmas for the general hospital psychiatrist. Patients with psychiatric conditions may exhibit cardiac symptoms, psychotropic agents can result in electrocardiographic abnormalities, and psychiatric manifestations may result from cardiac conditions. Because…
Overview Scholars have long sought the cause and nature of sleep and sleep disorders, yet theories have far exceeded clear facts. Plato, for example, believed that sleep was caused by vapors arising from the stomach and condensing in the head,…