Psychiatric Services

Advocate Lutheran General Hospital (ALGH) provides a full continuum of psychiatric services. With more than 50 psychiatric beds (including child adolescent psychiatry), ALGH provides the inpatient portion of this continuum to patients in all phases of the life cycle. These services pursue both the primary care and the tertiary specialty missions of ALGH. Other levels of care in Psychiatry include partial hospital and intensive outpatient programs for adults, geriatric patients, children and adolescents. Additionally, the ALGH emergency room handles many psychiatric emergencies. A description of the principal services follows.

Inpatient Service Units

Geriatric Psychiatry
The Geriatric Psychiatry unit is a closed unit for patients aged 60 and over. The unit provides a short-term diagnostic and treatment program that deals with the complex physical and psychological changes that relate to aging. Many patients have concomitant medical problems. There is regular participation on the unit in the clinical care and teaching by Geriatric Medicine faculty and fellows.

Adult Psychiatry
This is a locked General Adult Psychiatry unit where short-term diagnostic assessment and treatment concentrating on the stabilization of the patient is provided.

Inpatient Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
This unit provides comprehensive short-term assessment, diagnosis and treatment. The program treats children and adolescents from kindergarten through high school. The program requires family involvement as part of the treatment process.

Addiction Treatment Services
Various units provide treatment to substance dependent patients admitted to LGH. Patients are medically managed as they are being detoxed from alcohol and other drugs. Treatment plans and recommendations according to individual needs are developed.

Partial Hospital Services

Adult Partial Hospitalization Program
The Adult Partial Hospital program is an intensive structured alternative to inpatient treatment. The program helps patients adjust to and cope with their psychiatric illness, deal with crises and transition back to community living and work activities.

Child & Adolescent Day Treatment Program
The Child/Adolescent Day Treatment Program is designed to evaluate and treat the symptoms of school age children with severe emotional, behavioral, or social problems. The program provides a therapeutic environment for patients who can be maintained safely within the home during evenings and weekends. The child/adolescent is assisted in integrating more successfully into their family, school and community. This program is located on the 5 West Inpatient Unit and treats patients 5-18 years old.

Addictions Program (Advocate Medical Group)
Advocate Medical Group PROVIDES Addiction Partial Hospital, Intensive Outpatient and continuing care treatment programs for those not in need of 24 hour supervision or hospital detox.

Outpatient Services

Advocate Medical Group Teaching Practice
This is the faculty and resident practice with principal office in the Parkside Center, Suite 470. Adult patients are drawn principally from the near northwest suburbs and from the northwest portions of Chicago.

Referral sources are varied. Many of the outpatients are self-referred or referred by friends, family members, pastors, etc. Physician referrals come from the other physicians of the multispecialty Advocate Medical Group, as well as from the voluntary medical staff.

Psychology/Neuropsychology Laboratory
The Neuropsychology Laboratory assesses a wide range of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. Psychologists evaluate cognitive and behavioral changes such as memory loss, reduced attention span, intellectual decline, and personality change. Selected tests are administered to help diagnose problems, aid rehabilitation plans, and educate patients. The primary sources of referrals are Rehabilitation Medicine, Psychiatry, and General Medicine. Both inpatients and outpatients are served.

The Cognitive Rehabilitation Program provides inpatient and outpatient services to rehabilitation patients of Lutheran General Hospital, with specialized programs in Traumatic Brain Injury.