A new specialty of acute in-patient psychiatry?

Abstract

Comments on the articles by Luiz Dratcu (see record 2006-21239-001) and Frank Holloway (see record 2006-21239-002). Luiz Dratcu makes a case for a new specialty of acute inpatient psychiatry; Frank Holloway argues otherwise. In neither instance are the arguments at all surprising, and in both they are eloquently expressed. The case for a new specialty is based upon recognition of a continuing need for acute psychiatric in-patient services, and recognition that these services require particular skills and facilities which are likely to be most efficiently and effectively provided when interests and activities are focused upon them. The case against does not deny the need for attention to widely acknowledged shortcomings of many acute psychiatric in-patient services. Thus, both authors acknowledge a need to attend to the acute in-patient setting. In many ways, pitching a debate such as this around interpretations of an arbitrary term such as 'specialist' distracts from other more pressing concerns. This should not prevent capable leaders from other backgrounds coming forward when they might be more appropriate, just because there is a notion that each acute psychiatric inpatient unit should be led by a specialist acute in-patient psychiatrist. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)