Description
The field of hospital psychiatry has faced unimaginable challenges and opportunities during the last decade. Even as we continue to fight COVID-19, the century's greatest public health crisis, the need for behavioral health treatments continues to increase.
Providers and policymakers agree that integrating behavioral treatments into regular courses of patient care helps address postdischarge needs, including safe housing, reliable transportation, and nutrition. Behavioral wellness is currently benefiting from increased public attention, but disparities in access continue to plague people of color and members of the LGTBQIA+ community, who often struggle to find culturally competent treatment. There is a significant need for dedicated psychiatric hospitals and dedicated units in general hospitals to meet America's mental health needs.
Progress is happening, but many familiar challenges remain. Inadequate healthcare coverage and reimbursement for services has left both patients and medical providers desperate for reform. Staffing shortages are worsening as practitioners in the baby boomer generation retire and those roles go unfilled by new graduates.
Despite these challenges, psychiatric hospitals continue to adapt and find ways to care for patients. This updated textbook contains valuable knowledge and new insights for clinicians regarding treatment, staffing, and care, and features new chapters on family involvement and safety, federal and local financing, and information on collaborative care and Lean. Forward-looking chapters focus on the integration of treatment across settings and providers and examine new strategies such as telemedicine to extend the reach of clinicians. Together, and with expert guidance, readers of this must-have resource will find a roadmap for clinical, administrative, and financial steps to help providers take advantage of these unprecedented times to develop services and advance hospital psychiatry in the United States.
