Acute Psychiatric Emergencies. A Practical Approach

Contributors to second edition ix

Preface to second edition x

Preface to first edition xii

Acknowledgments xiii

Contact details and website information xiv

How to use your textbook xv

Part 1 1

1 Structured approach to acute psychiatric emergencies 3

2 Primary unified assessment and immediate psychiatric management 9

3 Secondary physical and psychosocial assessment 23

4 Mental state examination 29

5 Commonly encountered psychiatric presentations 37

Part 2 41

6 The patient who has harmed themselves 43

7 Organic causes for behavioural disturbances 67

8 The apparently intoxicated patient 81

9 The acutely confused patient 93

10 The aggressive patient 109

11 Special considerations 131

Part 3 143

12 Legal aspects of emergency psychiatry 145

13 Getting it right: non- technical skills 153

14 The patient experience 169

Working group for second edition 173

Working group for first edition 174

Contributors to first edition 176

References and further reading 177

Index 183

An essential guide to the emergency treatment of mental health crises.

Hospital emergency departments are encountering increasing numbers of patients in mental health crises and the number continues to rise year on year. Despite these challenges, very few practitioners are trained specifically to deal with mental health crises.

Acute Psychiatric Emergencies (APEx) meets this need with a course designed jointly by leading psychiatry and emergency medicine specialists with years of practical experience. It will help in any crisis setting be it in the emergency department, ward, clinic or in the community.

APEx provides a structured approach for the assessment and management of acute mental health emergencies, discusses common presentations, as well as legal frameworks and human factors. Now fully updated to reflect new guidelines and expanded treatment of key subjects, it is an invaluable resource for any practitioner involved in the provision of psychiatric care at any point in the healthcare pathway.

Readers of the second edition of Acute Psychiatric Emergencies will also find:

• Detailed discussion of topics including organic causes for behavioural disturbances, special circumstances and more
• Updated algorithms and figures for improved accessibility
• An emphasis on close cooperation between emergency and mental health teams

APEx is ideal for emergency physicians, psychiatrists, emergency and mental health nurses, paramedics and other crisis care professionals.

Advanced Life Support Group (ALSG) is an organisation dedicated to improving outcomes for people in life-threatening situations, anywhere along the healthcare pathway, anywhere in the world. A leading medical education charity, ALSG has delivered advanced life support training to over 225,000 clinicians in 44 countries.