The psychiatric intensive care unit clinical model and COVID-19. (1st April 2021) - Sethi, Faisil
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a rapid change in the way healthcare is provided. Pre-existing clinical models of care delivery have had to merge with a new way of working; driven by infection control and minimising the transmission of the virus. In an acute psychiatric setting, this has required many of the existing systems to be deconstructed and rebuilt in a way which at times is unrecognisable. For psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) services, the clinical model is simultaneously suited and opposed to the approach adopted to contain and manage the COVID-19 pandemic. This article explores how systems and processes used on a PICU can be translated to tackle challenges imposed by the coronavirus disease.