Integrating Psychiatric Services in the Emergency Room to Improve Patient Care by Using Quality Improvement Methods.

Prolonged length of stay in emergency departments (EDs) for patients with a psychiatric chief complaint is a widespread problem. Prolonged stays can lead to adverse outcomes and poor quality of care. We sought to improve quality of care for patients in the medical ED who needed psychiatric care.

The Use and Safety of Leave From an Acute Inpatient Psychiatry Unit: A Retrospective Review of Pass Outcomes for 4 Years.

Leave passes provide authorized leave for hospitalized patients from a psychiatric inpatient unit. Although providing day passes was once a relatively common practice, there are relatively few data describing their safety and efficacy. This descriptive study examines the use of leave passes in an adult inpatient unit at a university hospital between 2017 and 2021, with attention to reasons for granting the day pass, duration, and outcome of the pass.

Altered physical pain processing in different psychiatric conditions.

Several reports indicate either increased or decreased pain sensitivity associated with psychiatric disorders. Chronic pain is highly prevalent in many of these conditions. We reviewed the literature regarding experimental pain sensitivity in patients with major depression, bipolar disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia.

Neuromodulation for Apathy in Alzheimer's Disease: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Sham-Controlled Pilot Study.

Background: Apathy, a profound loss of motivation, initiation, and goal directed cognition, is a common comorbidity of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The presence of apathy is associated with rapid progression of AD, long-term impairment, disability, and higher mortality. Pharmacological treatments of apathy are limited.

A visual analog scale to measure psychological and physical pain: A preliminary validation of the PPP-VAS in two independent samples of depressed patients.

Objective: Psychological pain lies at the heart of human experience. However, it may also be abnormally intense and/or prolonged in pathological states, with negative outcomes. A simple and reliable measure of psychological pain for clinical use would be useful.

The neural representation of the association between comorbid drug use disorders and childhood maltreatment.

Background: Comorbidity of drug use disorders (DUD) with other psychopathology is associated with worse functional and treatment outcomes than DUD alone. The present study sought to identify altered functional neural circuitry underlying DUD comorbidity with other psychiatric disorders, and model the relationship of these alterations to childhood trauma (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire) and negative self-beliefs (Beck Depression Inventory).

Methods: A sample of adult men and women (mean = 36.

Molecular and antigenic characterization of group C orthobunyaviruses isolated in Peru.

Group C orthobunyaviruses (GRCVs) are a complex of viruses in the genus Orthobunyavirus and are associated with human febrile disease in tropical and subtropical areas of South and Central America. While numerous GRCVs have been isolated from mosquitoes, animals, and humans, genetic analysis of these viruses is limited. In this study, we characterized 65 GRCV isolates from febrile patients identified through clinic-based surveillance in the northern and southern Peruvian Amazon.