Introduction

Originally published in 1986, this volume presents the clinical and administrative aspects of emergency psychiatry from the point of view of the clinician administrator involved in organizing and running an emergency service.

Part 1: Administrative Overview

Part 1 provides an administrative overview of psychiatric emergency care – the development of the field, the concepts, the patient profile, the team, the architecture, fiscal planning, legal constraints as well as training and research issues.

Part 2: Delivery Systems

Part 2 describes psychiatric emergency care delivery systems in the emergency department, the average hospital wards, the community mental health centers and health maintenance organizations.

Part 3: Administrative Processes

Part 3 gives examples of the process of administration – in one instance how a psychiatric emergency service developed, in the other how one functions day to day and what themes recur administratively.

Part 4: Protocols and Models

Part 4 focuses on protocols and models useful to the emergency service administrator: protocols, records, standards of care, politics, liaison with the court, mobile response, collaborative arrangements and disaster preparedness.

Part 5: Bibliography

Part 5 provides an annotated bibliography which reviews and draws attention to the relevant literature for the clinicians and administrators to use in practicing emergency psychiatry.