ChoiceHub
Sign in
You are the intern on a surgical ward. A 68-year-old woman, four days after mastectomy, tells the night nurse she may as well not wake up in the morning. She has eaten nothing for two days, is tearful and is refusing her analgesia. Her regular mirtazapine was not charted on admission and she has had none for five days. Her observations are normal, her sodium and calcium are normal, and she is fully oriented. Your registrar tells you to refer her to the consultation-liaison psychiatry team. Which one of the following should you do first?
Shared by Mornienmiddle twist

Keep going — a set of ten like this one, one at a time.

Practise more

More from Psychiatry

See all

A 34-year-old man who came to Australia from Somalia six years ago is reviewed by his general practitioner for a depressive episode. After eight weeks of sertra…

Pre-internship · niche

A 40-year-old man who came to Australia from Iraq as a refugee eight years ago attends a general practice with six months of broken sleep, nightmares and daily…

Clinical rotations · middle twist

A 71-year-old woman who migrated from Hong Kong 40 years ago is admitted to a psychiatric ward with a severe depressive episode. She speaks Cantonese and almost…

Pre-internship · middle twist

A metropolitan mental health service is examining why Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inpatients leave the ward against medical advice far more often than…

Clinical rotations · middle twist

A 52-year-old man born in Vietnam, who has had schizophrenia for 25 years, comes to an emergency department with six hours of epigastric pain. He speaks limited…

Pre-internship · niche