| Abstract: |
(from the chapter) A psychiatric emergency is an unforeseen combination of medical and/or psychiatric problems that calls for immediate action to insure safety of the patient or others. This chapter provides a set of strategies to handle a psychiatric emergency which can be implemented by the oncologist or the primary care team initially, with eventual access to a psychiatric consultant. The goals of this chapter are threefold: (1) to teach what types of behaviors, diagnoses, and symptoms lead to emergency psychiatric consultation in the cancer setting; (2) to inform the reader about how to manage psychiatric emergencies in patients with agitation related to delirium, and cognitive impairment disorders, anxiety disorders, depression, and suicidal ideation and behavior in the cancer setting; (3) to convey the indications and suggestions for using physical restraints in the cancer setting; and (4) to discuss how to deal with assessment for capacity and refusal of treatment in the oncology setting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved). |
