Health Psychology Consultation in the Inpatient Medical Setting

Anxiety, depression, and difficulty adjusting to medical conditions are just a few of the factors that can complicate recovery for hospitalized patients.

In this book, Susan M. Labott describes how health psychologists, working with the medical team as consultants, can help determine the causes of such symptoms and provide appropriate treatment and actionable input for doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, social workers, and others.

In the ever-evolving US health care system, pressing needs for cost containment and preventive care present new opportunities for psychologists to work with medical inpatients in hospital settings.

This book is a guide for health psychology trainees and seasoned clinical psychologists who wish to expand their practice into consulting. Using examples modeled after actual medical notes, readers will learn to review and understand patient medical records, build rapport with patients, and have frank discussions of the complicated issues that can arise during patient interviews.

The book also offers recommendations for handling special circumstances in the inpatient setting, such as pain, delirium, and end-of-life care.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

I. The Inpatient Setting and Consultation Models

1. The Hospital Milieu
2. Consultation Models and Content

II. The Inpatient Evaluation

3. Preparing for the Consultation
4. Interviewing the Patient
5. Wrapping Up the Consultation

III. Psychological Issues in the Inpatient Setting

6. Adjustment to Medical Illness
7. Anxiety
8. Depression
9. Delirium and Acute Cognitive Changes
10. Substance Use and Abuse

IV. Special Issues in the Hospital Setting

11. Decisional Capacity
12. Nonadherence
13. Pain
14. End-of-Life Issues

V. Ethics and Professional Issues

15. The Ethics of Consultation With Medical Inpatients
16. Training, Billing, and Other Professional Issues

Appendix A

Appendix B

References

Index

About the Author

Susan M. Labott, PhD, ABPP, received her doctorate in clinical psychology from Northern Illinois University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Henry Ford Hospital.

She is a professor of clinical psychology in psychiatry at the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System; in this setting she developed and directed an inpatient health psychology consultation service as well as outpatient health psychology services for 18 years.

She is board-certified in clinical health psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology.

She also has interests in ethics and chairs the Social/Behavioral Institutional Review Board at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Labott has spent her career developing and directing an inpatient clinical health psychology consultation service. She brings the depth and breadth of that experience to this very practical book, in which she provides a myriad of hands-on approaches for working with patients with various medical diagnoses and their psychological sequelae as well as methods to enhance psychological practice in the complicated interprofessional milieu of contemporary health care.
—Ronald H. Rozensky, PhD, ABPP
Founding Editor of the Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings and Professor Emeritus of Clinical & Health Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville

This book provides much-needed practical guidance for any student, intern, or licensed psychologist working in inpatient medical settings. A must-read!
—Jeffrey L. Goodie, PhD, ABPP
Board Certified Clinical Health Psychologist and Coauthor of Integrated Behavioral Health in Primary Care: Step-by-Step Guidance for Assessment and Intervention

This is a lucid, well-organized, and encompassing guide to providing psychological services to diverse medical inpatients. Highly practical, with multiple case histories and a targeted review of the relevant literature, this volume will prepare psychologists to be knowledgeable, competent, effective clinicians and consultants.
—William N. Robiner, PhD, ABPP
Professor and Director, Health Psychology, Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis