Identifying a potential acute stroke in the psychiatric unit is crucial because immediate treatment can usually prevent permanent neurologic damage.

You’ll frequently encounter cases of hyperlipidemia among your patients on the psychiatric unit. Individuals with chronic mental illnesses are at a higher risk due to poor dietary habits, inadequate health care follow-up, smoking, and lack of physical exercise.

When managing pain in inpatient psychiatric settings, you will face unique challenges, including drug interaction risks, potential substance misuse, and the concern that inadequately treated pain may worsen depression or anxiety.

Once you see a case of postpartum psychosis, you’ll never forget it. New mothers who appear stable one day can become severely impaired almost overnight. 

Postpartum depression (PPD) is surprisingly common, affecting 10%–20% of new mothers in the first year after giving birth.

Rates of opioid use disorder (OUD) and overdose deaths during pregnancy have skyrocketed in recent years.

The Y-BOCS is a tool that allows you to gauge the intensity of OCD symptoms and track treatment progress.