Report of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Task Force on Lessons Learned From the COVID-19 Pandemic: Executive Summary

COVID-19-Related Psychosocial Care in General Hospitals: Results of an Online Survey of Psychosomatic, Psychiatric, and Psychological Consultation and Liaison Services in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland

“…Our project followed a call for action for mental health research efforts for the COVID-19 pandemic published in Lancet Psychiatry in April 2020 (15). It is in line with the recommendations of the Report of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Task Force on Lessons Learned From the COVID-19 Pandemic, published in July 2021 (2). CL services were challenged to adapt during the pandemic, possibly bringing permanent changes to our profession (16).…”

“…Hospitalized COVID-19 patients experienced high rates of delirium, neuropsychiatric disorders, anxiety, depression, acute stress disorder (2) as well as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (3). Uninfected patients were also affected by the pandemic: Fear, isolation, and disengagement from care worsened premorbid mental disorders (2). Among relatives of patients hospitalized for COVID-19, 23% showed symptoms of psychological distress and 2% showed PTSD 30 days after hospital discharge (3).…”

“…In Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, the damage caused by this first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic was managed relatively well, but the emergence of new and more virulent variant strains of the virus led to a devastating second wave of infections at the end of 2020 that resulted in far more hospitalizations and deaths in these countries, running into a subsequent third wave from March to May 2021 (7,8). In affected regions worldwide, surveys indicated that 50% or more of physicians and nurses experienced clinically relevant levels of anxiety, depression, and acute stress disorder (2). A crosssectional study about health care workers' (HCW) mental health during the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland reported that women (compared to men), nurses (compared to physicians), frontline staff (compared to non-front line workers), and HCWs exposed to COVID-19 patients (compared to nonexposed) reported more psychological symptoms than their peers (9).…”

“…Comparably, a cross-sectional study in Germany found that the COVID-19 pandemic led to an increase in stress among HCWs (10). This situation raised new challenges for psychosomatic, psychiatric, and psychological consultation and liaison (CL) services in general hospitals worldwide in supporting COVID-19 patients, their relatives, and staff (2).…”

Liaison psychiatry before and after the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Mental Health research after the onset of the pandemic has mainly focused on the psychiatric manifestations of COVID-19 ( Roy et al, 2021 ; Steardo et al, 2020 ) and on the consequences that the social factors derived from the pandemic have on the Mental Health of the population ( Gloster et al, 2020 ; Hossain et al, 2020 ). The activity of LPTs is an opportunity to improve the understanding of the relationship between the coronavirus and psychiatric care, as this is still a hot area for research, and much more information is needed ( Cabrera et al., 2020 ; López-Atanes et al., 2021 ; Shapiro et al., 2021 ).…”