Abstract
An encouraging phrase: “integrated care,” the combined management of a patient’s systemic medical and psychiatric illnesses. However, add to this picture psychological and social difficulties, as well as problems getting health care needs met and complexity moves to the forefront. Patients of this sort, those with multiple afflictions and complicated personal requirements, need fully coordinated care, and, at the same time guidance to help them restrain indiscriminate use of provider time. Patients with a mixture of these afflictions are “clinically complex.” With these patients as the target group, integrated care has come to the fore as a pressing topic in contemporary care delivery. Identifying these patients and then treating them whether with supportive or curative treatments is a major medical and economic task at this time.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Kathol R, Gatteau S. Healing mind and body: a critical issue for health care reform. Westport: Preager; 2007.
AIMS Center, University of Washington. Website: https://aims.uw.edu/.
Huffman JC, Niazi SK, Rundell JR, Sharpe M, Katon WJ. Essential articles on collaborative care models for the treatment of psychiatric disorders in medical settings: a publication by the academy of psychosomatic medicine research and evidence-based practice committee. Psychosomatics. 2014;55(2):109–22.
Medline Plus, National Laboratory of Medicine.
American Association of Medical Colleges. Website 2017. https://www.aamc.org/cim/specialty/exploreoptions/list/.
Frankel S, Bourgeois J, Erdberg P. Comprehensive Care for Complex Patients: the medical-psychiatric coordinating physician model. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2013.
de Jonge P, Huyse FJ, Stiefel FC. Case and care complexity in the medically ill. Med Clin North Am. 2006;90(4):679–92.
Kathol RG, Perez R, Cohen J. The integrated case management manual: assisting complex patients regain physical and mental health. New York: Springer; 2010.
Kathol RG, Lattimer C, Gold G, Perez R, Gutteridge D. Creating clinical and economic “wins” through integrated case management lessons for physicians and health system administrators. Prof Case Manag. 2011;16(6):290–8.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Frankel, S.A., Bourgeois, J.A. (2018). Clinical Complexity: The Challenge of Complexity in Medical Practice. In: Frankel, S., Bourgeois, J. (eds) Integrated Care for Complex Patients. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61214-0_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61214-0_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-61212-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-61214-0
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)