PROCESS FOR OBTAINING PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITALIZATION OR OUTPATIENT FOLLOW-UP FOR ADULT INPATIENTS
Hospital Social Work and Psychiatry Hospital Consultation Services have developed these guidelines for obtaining psychiatric follow-up for adult patients hospitalized on medical-surgical units in the University of Michigan Hospitals.
During the hours 8-5 Monday through Friday, Page 8582. This will reach the social work specialist involved with all transfers from a medical bed to a psychiatry bed. Please contact her to consider the appropriateness of a transfer and discuss alternative options as soon as transfer is being considered. She will be responsible for arranging transfer to a UMHS bed or an inpatient facility outside the UMHS system. At times other than 8-5 Monday through Friday, call Psychiatric Emergency Services 936-5900.
Arranging outpatient management for patients who do not require inpatient psychiatric or medical care.
This is the responsibility of the social worker assigned to the patient’s inpatient medical/surgical service. You may be contacted by the Psychiatric Consult/Liaison team to arrange outpatient follow-up for patients that they have seen, and you have not. This has been agreed upon between our department and the Psychiatric Consult/Liaison team in exchange for their assuming responsibility for inpatient placements. The social worker is provided with a detailed description of the patient’s situation, the desired outpatient plan and information about what social work services are needed to make the plan functional. Once you help to make the appropriate arrangements, document that information in the patient’s record and contact a consultation team member to inform him or her of the arrangements.
The following numbers may be provided patients:
Washtenaw County Community Mental Health: 734-971-2282
RSI Washtenaw County : 734-481-2502
RSI Wayne County : 800-686-6543
University of Michigan CDR (for M-Care insured patients) 1-800-439-6348
University of Michigan Psychiatry Department Appointments 764-9190
University of Michigan Psychiatric Emergency Services 936-5900
Please keep in mind that inpatient psychiatric placements may take a significant amount of time, so you should refer early. The patient’s medical readiness for discharge from the hospital does not make the process any shorter, so you should refer as early as possible. If the need for discharge is urgent, the initial referral should indicate this.
The Psychiatric Consult/Liaison team routinely does not respond to pages during their rounds that occur from 9-11 and 1-3.
As the social worker, you may be the one who will have to interpret to your medical team that there may be a delay in discharging the patient as the process for inpatient psychiatric hospital transfer takes time. The medical or surgical team may be frustrated by the delay, but the resources (beds) are not always under the control of UMHS. Even when they are under the control of the UMHS, there are constraints on the care of psychiatric patients that require a screening process that takes more time than most inpatient medical transfers (legal issues, patient safety issues, unit capability for providing medical care, etc)