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Milestones
I got a nice, if puzzling surprise today. At a faculty meeting I was recognized for my 10-year anniversary of service at our hospital. It’s an important milestone, even if it is wrong. They scheduled this small event a couple of months ago, but I was too busy on the psychiatry consult service to break…
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The Iowa River Landing Sculpture Walk
I had so much fun with the giant chicken post on January 25, 2020 that I thought it would be nice to revisit the subject, only this time take a butt-freezing tour of the entire Iowa River Landing (IRL) Sculpture Walk. We took the walk Tuesday, January 28, 2020. The weather was typical for Iowa…
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An Auspicious Chair
I took the picture of the little chair one of the residents brought to the psychiatry consult office yesterday. I got a big charge out of it, especially because I’ve been using a version made of wood and leather for a few years now. I think it’s possible that it could be an auspicious chair.…
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Whatever Happened to the Janus Head Logo for ACLP?
I got an email from Don R. Lipsitt, MD yesterday which reminded me of the Janus Head logo for the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (ACLP). It was changed to another sort of nondescript logo several years ago for reasons I didn’t understand. Dr. Lipsitt is a luminary in C-L Psychiatry and recently published a definitive…
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Back in the Saddle
Well, I’m pretty tapped out, so it’ll be a short post today. I’m back in the saddle, running around the hospital on the psychiatry consult service. This is my last year of phased retirement and in 11 months—I’ll be fully retired. I put 36 floors and 3 miles on the step counter. I’m feeling every…
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Informal Bedside Tests for Delirium
Most of this post is an updated redux from years ago about an informal bedside test for delirium called the oral trails test. I learned about it from my senior resident when I was a junior psychiatry resident in training at the VA Medical Center. There was an elderly patient admitted to the psychiatry unit…
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Quiz Show versus Grand Rounds for Delirium Education Redux
Here’s a redux of one of my blog posts from years ago. There’s not been much change in the data or clinical practice regarding delirium, except we’re even less enthusiastic about using any kind of psychotropic medication to treat delirium, even hypoactive delirium. Try the puzzle. “So, you want to put on a game show…
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SQiD vs CAM Redux
This was a blog post I wrote back in 2011 on another blog, The Practical C-L Psychiatrist. SQiD is short for Single Question in Delirium and it’s a very short and effective screen for delirium, if you have a reliable informant. I also mention the Edinburgh Delirium Test Box (EDTB). It has been further developed…
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Coach’s Corner: Somatoform Illness
This is a short Coach’s Corner video on somatoform and related abnormal illness behaviors which prompt physicians to request psychiatric consultation. Medically unexplained physical symptoms are not rare in the hospital and in medical clinics. The general idea is to remember Stephen Covey’s caution about effectiveness and efficiency, which is that you have a lot…
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Coach’s Corner On Delirium
I’m anticipating a busy time next month on the psychiatry consultation service. I suspect delirium will be the main event, as it is most of the time. So I made a very short YouTube video on delirium. It’s cast in the style of a coach’s corner because I was one of the many clinicians who…
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