Abstract
Assessing psychiatric patients in the emergency department (ED) for admission to psychiatry is often a challenging task. Yet it is the bread and butter of any psychiatric ward which has an emergency department (ED) that receives patients. Whether they should be admitted or not depends on numerous factors, from dangerousness to outpatient follow-up care availability.
There is a high comorbidity between substance abuse and homelessness, as covered elsewhere in this volume. Often, patients are referred to substance abuse programs, which they do not follow up with for numerous reasons. This may be another source of frustration for the clinicians.
Here we will present case examples, with pros and cons towards admission, discharge, or reassessment when appropriate.
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Ritchie, E.C. (2021). Management of Homeless Suicidal and Aggressive Patients in the ED. In: Ritchie, E.C., Llorente, M.D. (eds) Clinical Management of the Homeless Patient. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70135-2_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70135-2_13
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