Henry A. Nasrallah, MD
Editor-in-Chief
On recent hospital rounds with residents and medical students, a medical student presented a 20-year-old man with first-episode psychosis. The student mentioned that the patient admitted to hearing voices, and the admission note in the patient’s chart referred simply to “AH+” (auditory hallucinations present)
I was disappointed. This sparse description of a key psychotic symptom ignored rich details that could provide important clinical and safety information about the patient. So I suggested that the students and residents ask this patient many more questions about his AH.
In my experience, clinicians rarely retrieve and document the wealth of data available about AHs when assessing persons with psychosis. I recommend that clinicians include such details in the initial mental status exam of a patient with psychosis.
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