Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Collaborating with Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry

Palliative care (PC) and consultation-liaison (CL) psychiatry are complementary clinical disciplines that frequently care for the same patients facing serious illness complicated by psychiatric symptoms, psychological distress, neuropsychiatric syndromes, and high-stakes medical decisions. Yet structured collaboration between the two fields remains variable, and PC clinicians may be uncertain when and how to engage CL psychiatry colleagues. In this article, an interdisciplinary group of PC and CL psychiatry clinicians offers 10 practical tips to strengthen collaboration across inpatient and outpatient settings. Topics include models of collaboration, shared biopsychosocial-spiritual formulation, care of patients with serious mental illness, psychotropic management, diagnostic clarification, psychosocial and behavioral interventions, and collaboration around decision-making and end-of-life concerns. Together, these tips provide a practical framework for integrating CL psychiatric expertise into serious illness care while drawing on the psychological, social, and spiritual expertise already embedded within interdisciplinary PC teams.