Impact of COVID-19 Mitigation Efforts on Adults With Serious Mental Illness: A Patient-Centered Perspective.

In response to COVID-19 mitigation policies, mental health and social service agencies have had to rapidly change their operations, creating challenges for patients with serious mental illness (SMI). This study aimed to explore the experiences of adults with SMI navigating these altered systems during the pandemic. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 hospitalized adults with SMI in the fall of 2020; they were coded using thematic analysis.

Reduced pain perception in patients with schizophrenia; A missed case of hand fracture.

Altered pain perception among patients with schizophrenia is often underrecognized in the medical community. The cause is not known, and medical professionals are not sure whether these patients experience less pain or are simply unable to express it. There are documented cases of patients with schizophrenia presenting to hospital settings with serious injuries without obvious (expected) pain.

Reproductive health in an inpatient psychiatric unit: A retrospective chart review.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree to which reproductive health issues are discussed with women of child-bearing age on an inpatient psychiatric unit. We hypothesized that preconception care is limited, and that contraceptive status of patients is rarely elicited. For this sub-analysis, we focused on counseling related to potential impacts of psychotropic medications on pregnancy, and on contraceptive status, especially when prescribed teratogenic medications.

QTc monitoring in adults with medical and psychiatric comorbidities: Expert consensus from the Association of Medicine and Psychiatry.

Objective: Several psychiatric medications have the potential to prolong the QTc interval and subsequently increase the risk for ventricular arrhythmias such as torsades de pointes (TdP). There is limited guidance for clinicians to balance the risks and benefits of treatments.

Methods: After a review of the existing literature, clinical-educators from the Association of Medicine and Psychiatry developed expert consensus guidelines for ECG monitoring of the QTc interval for patients with medical and psychiatric comorbidities who are prescribed medications with the potential to prolong the QTc interval.