Rotation # 1 – Site Visit Reflection

My site visits for my Psychiatry rotation were conducted with Dr. Manuel Saint Martin. We discussed how it may be difficult to obtain accurate and reliable information from patients suffering from psychiatric disorders, and how it may be necessary to obtain collateral information from their friends, family members, or therapists in order to gain more insight into the situation that brought them to the ER. We also discussed several long-acting antipsychotics like Invega Sustenna and Invega Trinza that were able to help increase patient compliance with medication, as they only had to come back to the hospital once a month to receive another dose. Presenting a psychiatric patient history is somewhat different as well, as there is more of an emphasis on family/social history, which can reveal risk factors or precipitating events. I presented a patient with schizoaffective disorder and was exhibiting signs of mania, I couldn’t get a coherent history from the patient so I ended up having to speak to her son for more information. The article I presented was about fluvoxamine, an older, less-common SSRI being used in the treatment of Covid-19, which was interesting as usually medications are repurposed for use as psychiatric medications and not the opposite. Dr. Saint Martin was very helpful in helping me to think about more relevant questions I needed to ask the patient, as well as assessing their mental status, affect, mood, and thought content.