Several psychiatric medications prolong the QTc interval and place patients at risk of the dreaded torsade de pointes. Some patients are particularly vulnerable to QTc prolongation: the elderly, patients with heart disease and electrolyte imbalances, and patients taking certain medications, like thioridazine and ziprasidone. We provide a step-by-step guide so that you can keep your patients safe from this cardiovascular side effect.
Paraphilias, eg voyeurism and exhibitionism, are intense and recurrent sexual interests and behaviors that involve atypical objects or activities. They become disorders when they put people at risk of harm or cause distress or impairment. Dr. Holoyda reviews the latest treatments for these disorders and discusses approaches for working with registered sex offenders on psychiatric units.
Subpoenas can be tricky. You must balance your legal duties to comply with your obligations to your patients confidentiality. To make things even more complicated, not all subpoenas are valid. Dr. VanDercar walks us through the steps to follow when we receive a subpoena.
Dr. Hendrick is a clinical professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and is the director of inpatient psychiatry at Olive View—UCLA Medical Center, where she carries a caseload of patients and provides teaching and supervision for medical students and psychiatry residents. After completing medical school and psychiatric residency at UCLA, she spent several years working as a principal investigator and co-investigator on N.I.M.H. funded research studies. She has authored or co-authored over 75 research papers, editorials, books and other publications. She has a long-standing interest in the needs of severely mentally ill patients from underserved populations and has worked in community mental health settings her entire career.
Psychogenic polydipsia (PP), also known as primary polydipsia and potomania, was first described in the 1930s. It is surprisingly common with a prevalence rate between 3 to 25%...
