Teaching a neuromedical-contextual approach to psychosomatic medicine

The practice of psychosomatic medicine in the general hospital setting can be challenging, particularly for the inexperienced trainee. Guidance for how to approach a psychiatric consultation can be nonspecific or lacking altogether. In response, we offer a pedagogical model that emphasizes patient-specific neurological, medical, and contextual variables. A stepwise, "ABC" approach to psychiatric consultation is elaborated, beginning with collection of critical history ("Admission, Background, Consultation Question"), followed by both patient encounter ("Appearance, Behavior, Context") and actual patient examination ("Arousal, Brain/Body, Cognitive Assessment"), ultimately informing any given case formulation. Multiple clinical vignettes illustrate this approach and are offered for educational purposes in dissemination to trainees.