title: Assessment and management of patients with intellectual disabilities by psychiatric consultants.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although most individuals with intellectual disability (ID) currently reside in the community and receive their health care in general medical settings, there is no specific literature on psychiatric consultation to those requiring inpatient medical or surgical care.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The authors discuss the specialized features of the consultation-liaison (C-L) evaluation and common requests for psychiatric consultation in the hospitalized ID population.
  
  
  METHODS
  This article reviews the literature on general psychiatric care in this population and presents the experience of practitioners in the ID-Psychiatry field who have followed their patients through episodes of inpatient non-psychiatric care.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The C-L clinician must adapt the interview to accommodate a patient's cognitive, sensory, and language capacities; integrate information from collateral sources; and serve as a liaison between multiple parties.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ID should not be a barrier to the delivery of appropriate health care. This article provides evidence and recommendations on C-L assessment, management, and liaison for hospitalized individuals with ID.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA. ndfriedman@partners.org
authors.forename: Nora D B
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.forename: Karen J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Shedlack
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D010351:Patient Discharge; D011570:Psychiatry; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D059020:Suicidal Ideation