Screening for biological illness includes warning signs to look out for, some key "alarm bells" for physical illnesses/comorbidities/neurological differential diagnoses... but this manual explicitly does not intend to turn the practitioner into a doctor.
In addition there are notes on
Safety and sex for youth that are frequent and important concerns, for both young people and carers.
There are therefore clear
Protocols for managing concern about physical illness.
AMBIT relies on a reflective, mentalizing approach to the complex difficulties faced by adolescents in psychiatric crisis and their families, and
implicit in this is the assumption that this involves coming to "know what we do not know" (dangerous therapeutic omnipotence is the alternative.)
If there are concerns about a physical symptom a
particular reflective quorum is required that must include medical expertise - "if in doubt, consult!"
How to speak to a DOCTOR covers areas such as
- "What information will s/he ask me for?"
- Making basic physical observations in preparation for a medical consultation (pulse, temp, resps, BP, assessing level of consciousness, etc...)
Finally there is information on
Common side effects of medication especially the acute or severe ones such as acute dystonia, Neuroleptic malignant syndrome, neutropenia - infections, liver failure, etc...