SCOPE OF SERVICE

The Department of Psychiatry provides accessible and effective high-quality, and long-term mental care for people who have severe mental disorders. Its goal is to provide mental health services for patients of King Saud University Hospitals. The department has established referral guidelines to ensure the safety and stability of the patients within the medical environment. Services being offered cover all age and gender groups, even both our inpatient and outpatient clients.

Below is the list of mental health services that we offer:

• Primary Prevention Services: Through Psycho-Education Community and vulnerable relatives of our clients.
• Secondary Intervention Services: Emergency Department, Outpatient Clinics, In-Patient Locked Wards and Consultation Liaison Teams who can provide comprehensive mental health specialist assessments, feedbacks and brief interventions to inpatients of the general hospital.
• Tertiary Services: Referral from other hospitals: Resistant Cases, ECT

We also offer the most comprehensive and advanced diagnostic and therapeutic methods in the hospital.

Diagnostic Methods include:

• Semi-structured interview
• Questionnaires
• Scales
• Checklists

Therapeutic Methods include:

• Biological: Medications – ECT
• Psychotherapy: Counselling, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Psycho-Analytic and Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
• Social: Marital, Family Therapy, Social Skill Training, Social Support

The Department of Psychiatry offers the following major programs as well as training opportunities for the residents and medical students who aspire to be excellent in their chosen careers.

• Undergraduate Teaching
• Postgraduate Training
• Research in the Field of Psychiatry
• Paramedical Training (Psychologist, Social Worker, Psychiatric Nurse)

Clinical Services at Psychiatry Department

The Department of Psychiatry at King Khalid University Hospital provides a comprehensive array of clinical services for individuals among ages with mental health challenges. Our multidisciplinary approach includes psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, social workers, occupational and recreational therapists, among others, all trained to work in a collaborative environment with patients and families to help achieve optimum and satisfying health care, and enjoy productive lives. 

Consultation Services

• Consultation services are run by emergency room, clinic and ward consultants in a daily basis. Each consultation session consists of one attending psychiatrist (consultant) and two residents in rotation. 

In-patient Services

• There are two wards for males and females with twenty-three (23) beds. These wards deal with acute cases that need immediate intervention, primarily in psychotic patients, crisis interventions, diagnostic clarifications, and resistant cases to outpatient intervention.
• The Psychiatric Wards receive patients through A&E and OPD Clinic. There are three teams; each consists of one consultant and two residents who are involved in Residency Program in Psychiatry. Social workers and clinical psycho-pharmacologists who will help in patient care will be added if needed.
• An average of twenty (20) nurses will be distributed to both male and female wards according to their gender.

Outpatient Services

• Currently, there are more than fourteen (14) clinics per week run by the department. The clinic is open five (5) days a week, Sunday through Thursday, from 7:30 am until 4:30 pm.  Almost every day, there are AM and PM schedules in these clinics that include psychotherapy and family therapy. The daily average number of booked patients in Psychiatric Clinic is around twelve (12).  

Emergency Services

• We offer a 24-hour service. A resident is always assigned daily to assess and manage psychiatric cases in ER Department. We make sure that the ER will be covered for the whole week including weekends and after usual office hours.