Behavioral Emergencies For The Emergency Physician

This comprehensive, go-to volume features cutting edge discussion of the emergency department management of mental health patients.

Guest editors Dr. David Kuo and Dr. Veronic Tucci have assembled an expert team of authors on the topic of Psychiatric and Behavioral Emergencies. Articles include: The Emergency Physician's role in the Medical Clearance of the Psychiatric Patient, Stabilization and Management of the Acutely Agitated or Psychotic Patient, Stabilizing and Managing Patients with Altered Mental Status and Delirium, Depression and Suicidal Patients, The New Drugs of Abuse and Withdrawal Syndromes, Strategies for Managing Patients with Personality and Somatoform Disorders, Special Considerations in the Trauma Patient, and more!

This comprehensive, go-to volume features cutting edge discussion of the emergency department management of mental health patients.

This fully updated second edition focuses on mental illness, both globally and in terms of specific mental-health-related visits encountered in emergency department settings, and provides practical input from physicians experienced with adult emergency psychiatric patients. It covers the pre-hospital setting and advising on evidence-based practice; from collaborating with psychiatric colleagues to establishing a psychiatric service in your emergency department. Potential dilemmas when treating pregnant, geriatric or homeless patients with mental illness are discussed in detail, along with the more challenging behavioral diagnoses such as substance abuse, factitious and personality disorders, delirium, dementia, and PTSD. The new edition of Behavioral Emergencies for Healthcare Providers will be an invaluable resource for psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric and emergency department nurses, trainee and experienced emergency physicians, and other mental health workers.

In this issue of Emergency Medicine Clinics, guest editors Drs. Eileen F. Baker and Catherine A. Marco bring their considerable expertise to the topic of Psychiatric and Behavioral Emergencies. Top experts cover key topics such as the emergency psychiatric interview; the agitated patient; the suicidal or homicidal patient; excited delirium; substance use disorders; schizophrenia; depression; and more. Contains 15 relevant, practice-oriented topics including bipolar affective disorder; geriatric and pediatric psychiatric emergencies; personality disorders; malingering; legal and ethical considerations; and more. Provides in-depth clinical reviews on psychiatric and behavioral emergencies, offering actionable insights for clinical practice. Presents the latest information on this timely, focused topic under the leadership of experienced editors in the field. Authors synthesize and distill the latest research and practice guidelines to create clinically significant, topic-based reviews.

This volume provides an “on-the-go” guide to the most common behavioral emergencies a physician may encounter. Each chapter represents a disease state or symptom cluster and concisely summarizes the disease state, provides background, symptoms and signs, differential diagnoses, and immediate and long-term treatment options. All chapters conclude with a diagnosis or treatment algorithm or another easy-to-use visual tool. Chapters named after a specific disease state or symptom cluster, arranged alphabetically for use in the field. The text begins with chapters covering patient evaluation: getting a good history, suicide risk assessment, physical exam, and when and how to use studies. Written by experts in psychiatry and emergency medicine, this text is the first to consider both medical perspectives in a concise guide. Quick Guide to Psychiatric Emergencies is an excellent resource for psychiatrists, emergency medicine physicians, residents, nurses, and other medical professionals that handle behavioral emergencies on a regular basis.

"A 38-year-old married woman is brought to the emergency department by EMS. The EMTs report that she had been talking about having suicidal ideation and wanting to kill herself. She also complains of nausea and vomiting. You have been called to examine her. As you approach her stretcher, you notice that she has long, dark hair that looks matted and somewhat disheveled. She looks pale and is gripping a bowl. As you step to her side, she sits up, bends over the bowl and throws up liquid material, with a trace of bright red blood. You wait until she is done, and ask her: "Can I help you?" She looks at you for a split second and then puts her finger down her throat and induces vomiting. She then slides down on the stretcher, feet hanging off the edge and begins to moan. She does not answer, and does not look at you. You ask again: "You must feel very nauseous. Is there anything I can do to help you?" She barely looks at you, just groans, and once again puts her finger in her mouth to initiate the gag reflex. She hugs the bowl, throws up clear liquid, and continues to heave. She then turns away from you and stops responding to your offer to help"--

Emergency physicians, in all practice settings, care for patients with both undifferentiated psycho-behavioral presentations and established psychiatric illness. This reference-based text goes beyond diagnostics, providing practical input from physicians experienced with adult emergency psychiatric patients. Physicians will increase their understanding and gain confidence working with these patients, even when specialized psychiatric back-up is lacking. Behavioral Emergencies for the Emergency Physician is comprehensive, covering the pre-hospital setting and advising on evidence-based practice; from collaborating with psychiatric colleagues to establishing a psychiatric service in your ED. Sedation, restraint and seclusion are outlined. Potential dilemmas when treating pregnant, geriatric or homeless patients with mental illness are discussed in detail, along with the more challenging behavioral diagnoses such as malingering, factitious and personality disorders. This go-to, comprehensive volume is invaluable for trainee and experienced emergency physicians, as well as psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric and emergency department nurses and other mental health workers.