Prescribing psychotropics in physical illness

This two-day psychotropic medication training course will discuss the choice of antidepressants in patients with heart failure, including those with comorbid conditions such as cardiac disease and diabetes. The evidence base for the safe and effective use of antidepressants in the cardiac patient will be discussed, as well as drug interactions, relative contraindications, and management of side effects.

We will address the difficulties of using antidepressants in patients with gastrointestinal problems, including inflammatory bowel diseases. Particular attention will be paid to the relative likelihood of various drug options to cause, contribute to or even ameliorate pre-existing gastric symptoms. The use of antidepressants to treat neuropathic pain will be discussed, and how to separately manage depression in patients already taking antidepressants for this purpose.

Pharmacological measures for the management of agitation and aggression in the non-mental health hospital setting will be explored. The impact of differences in staff skill mix, medication availability, physical health monitoring and available administration routes on safe and effective drug choice will be considered.

The key issues surrounding prescribing of psychotropics for patients with kidney disease will be discussed. We will further examine the complexities of prescribing safely and effectively for patients who require dialysis, including pharmacokinetic principles, the use of depots, and how to manage episodic agitation whilst on the machine.

The vast majority of medicines used in mental conditions are largely metabolised and cleared by the liver. We will look at how liver impairment, both acute and chronic, may affect prescribing choice. We will also address how to manage psychotropic-induced liver damage.

Finally, this psychotropic medication training course will look at administration of psychotropics via non-oral routes. The practical implications of conditions such as short bowel and high-output stomas will be covered, as well as treatment options for those patients who cannot take medication orally. We will discuss the availability of various treatment options and the practicalities of using unlicensed medicines or routes in the acute hospital setting.

Want more courses to choose from? Explore our training for hospital staff and mental health workers in secondary care.