Ketamine for major depressive disorder during an inpatient psychiatric admission: Effectiveness, adverse events, and lessons learned.

Objective: Most studies examining the efficacy of ketamine for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) have been conducted in outpatient or mixed inpatient/outpatient settings. Less is known about effectiveness and tolerability of ketamine for psychiatrically hospitalized patients. Efficacy and tolerability data from a naturalistic sample of acute inpatients may help inform institutions considering ketamine therapy for inpatient services.

Low COVID-19 Vaccination Rates Among Psychiatric Inpatients: Implications for Institutional Settings and Outreach Efforts.

Objective: This study sought to determine COVID-19 vaccination rates for individuals with serious mental illness admitted to a large health system in New York State.

Methods: Vaccination rates among 12,714 patients admitted to psychiatric units and to medical and surgical units were compared between April 6, 2021, and September 30, 2021.

Results: Only 40% (N=416 of 1,029) of patients admitted to psychiatric services had at least one COVID-19 vaccination, whereas 64.

Inpatient psychiatry response to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant surge.

The increased transmissibility of the omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus resulted in a rapid increase in infection among many psychiatric inpatients in our hospital between December 2021 and February 2022. This required our institution to close affected units to new admissions. In response, we implemented a model utilizing universal SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing at the time of admission, the development of "admitting units" where all patients were quarantined for four days followed by repeat PCR testing, and subsequent transition to COVID-19 negative and COVID-19 positive "receiving units" based on the results of the second test.