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The clinician’s role in helping persons experiencing homelessness

SAN FRANCISCO — In a video interview, Elspeth “Cam” Ritchie, MD, MPH, a psychiatrist in Washington, D.C., and member of the Healio Psychiatry Peer Perspective Board, spoke about what a clinician should look for when treating people experiencing homelessness.

With the APA annual meeting in San Francisco this year, Ritchie discussed how both psychiatrists can treat the physical issues and general internists can treat the mental issues of the homeless population.

“Homelessness is an intractable problem, but what I can do, and I hope you will do with me is think about the physical aspects of the homeless person when they’re on your psychiatric ward – look at their feet, have them take off their socks, get a podiatry consult if you need to,” she said. “If they’re on the medical ward, think about how you can manage chronic medical conditions in the context of the environment they’re going to go back out to.”

Disclosures: Ritchie reports no relevant financial disclosures.