PAS 523 - Psychiatry and Emergency Medicine, 5 credit hours

This course will provide an overview of potentially life-threatening illness and injury encountered in emergent situations or in the critically ill patient. In addition, this course will discuss the essentials of assessment and management for the initial evaluation, stabilization, assessment, management and treatment, patient education, disposition and follow-up of an acutely ill patient requiring expeditious medical, surgical, or psychiatric attention.

Also, Instruction focused on the detection and application of preventive measures and treatment of health risk behaviors including stress, abuse and violence, substance abuse and psychological symptoms and syndromes through basic counseling, patient education and/or appropriate referrals that are sensitive to culture and ethnicity. Introduction to strategies to identify and ease patient reaction to illness and end of life issues and application of those strategies to overcome resistance, encourage therapeutic cooperation, and assist in changing patient risky behaviors. Cultural diversity and its relationship to health, disease, and death will be addressed. Other topics include sexuality and health.