key: cord-0722968-bj42xps2 authors: Mader, Einat; Dori, Guy title: Patients with the novel Sars-Cov-2 disease require a novel standard of care – med-psych date: 2020-05-23 journal: Psychosomatics DOI: 10.1016/j.psym.2020.05.015 sha: 40b8b8f0e3df52cc082c6d5a8fddeb59160e5da2 doc_id: 722968 cord_uid: bj42xps2 nan Internists are not well trained in diagnosing and treating mental aspects of medical illness and it is routine to consult psychiatrists when emotional decompensation occurs. On the other hand, psychiatrists are not part of the internal medicine staff. It is thus conceived that the hospital system caring for SARS-Cov-2 patients have the "two arms" of skills crucially required for holistic treatment of SARS-Cov-2 patients, but a coordinating body integrating these arms is missing. Over the last 25 years, a new medical discipline has emerged, Med-Psych, an interface between medicine and psychiatry. Med-Psych units are units that integrate psychiatric and medical care [4] . Our department adopted the Med-Psych approach in treating our SARS-Cov-2 patients. In addition to the standard medical therapy, mental distress was screened for, diagnosed and treated. The following case may explain the advantage of the Med-Psych approach: A 50-year old healthy man was hospitalized because of slight cough after he was diagnosed with SARS-Cov-2 infection. His physical examination, laboratory tests, and imaging studies were normal. From the medical perspective, he was defined as a mild case. Shortly after admission, the patient became extremely anxious and agitated and began hyperventilating. Our integrated approach enabled us to identify the distress without the need of external consultants and while avoiding unnecessary medical intervention. Treating the patient with personal integrative psychotherapy and psychoeducational group psychotherapy allowed us to discharge the patient back home despite the lack of two consecutive negative PCRs. Summary: SARS-Cov-2 patients are hospitalized in quarantine conditions. In addition to medical care, these patients require frequent mental assessment. High index of suspicion is required to detect early signs of mental distress. Early diagnosis is beneficial as early intervention may help patients cope with this mental burden. A med-psych specialist on the team or a sincere partnership between the internist and the psychiatrist should be the novel standard of care for these patients. References (Numerical) Adverse effects of isolation in hospitalised patients: a systematic review COVID-19: what has been learned and to be learned about the novel coronavirus disease Clinical characteristics of hospitalised patients with schizophrenia who were suspected to have coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Hubei Province Psychiatry and the general hospital in an age of uncertainty The authors would like to thank Dr. Reuven Mader for his inspiration. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.. Einat Mader designed and wrote the letter. Guy Dori reviewed the manuscript. All authors contributed to and have approved the final manuscript.