The internal reliability of the EID-factor appears to be reproducible in the specific setting of psychiatric hospitals. It may be useful to help healthcare professionals develop pharmaceutical care towards psychiatric patients. Validation of the scale remains to be completed. Information need in psychiatric in-patients measured by the EID-score was comparable to the need measured in general hospitals during earlier research in England. Targeted information services seem to be desirable to enhance therapy adherence and quality of life in psychiatric patients.

Drug combinations that are associated with QT-prolongation are frequently used in the chronic psychiatric setting. Persistent efforts should be undertaken to provide caregivers with clear guidelines on how to use these drugs in a responsible and safe way.

Only a limited number of patients developed a prolonged QTc interval after the start of an additional QTc-prolonging drug. Nevertheless, it is still important to screen for high-risk patients at baseline. A risk score can help to select high-risk patients and to stimulate an appropriate and feasible risk management of QTc prolongation in psychiatry.

Although this case could not be fully explored, attention should be paid to bone mineral density loss in depressed patients taking a combined therapy of atypic antipsychotics and antidepressants.

No abstract