Observation and Collateral Information
These are to other functions of emergency psychiatry. The observation of the patient's behavior is an impart aspect of emergency psychiatry. Many jurisdictions base involuntary commitment on dangerousness or the inability to care for one's basic needs. Observation for a period of time may help determine this. For example, if a patient who is committed for violent behavior in the community, continues to behave in an erratic manner without clear purpose, this will help the staff decide that hospital admission may be needed.
Collateral information or parallel information is information obtained from family, friends or treatment providers of the patient. Some jurisdictions require consent from the patient to obtain this information while others do not. For example in a patient who is thought to be paranoid about people following him or spying on him, this information can be helpful to decide if these thoughts are more or less likely to be based in reality. Past episodes of suicide attempts or violent behavior can be confirmed or disproven.
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Famous quotes containing the words observation and/or information:
“Laws and customs may be creative of vice; and should be therefore perpetually under process of observation and correction: but laws and customs cannot be creative of virtue: they may encourage and help to preserve it; but they cannot originate it.”
—Harriet Martineau (1802–1876)
“So while it is true that children are exposed to more information and a greater variety of experiences than were children of the past, it does not follow that they automatically become more sophisticated. We always know much more than we understand, and with the torrent of information to which young people are exposed, the gap between knowing and understanding, between experience and learning, has become even greater than it was in the past.”
—David Elkind (20th century)