Psychiatry · Templates

Psychiatric consult note template

Built for inpatient, ED, and outpatient consults where the note must answer a focused question, document your assessment, and hand clear recommendations back to the primary team.

Template content

Copy or download, then paste into Wavo under My Templates.

Psychiatric Consult Note

Consult Question / Reason for Referral
- Referring service and specific question(s) to be answered.
- Urgency and relevant clinical context provided by the primary team.

Relevant History
- Psychiatric, medical, substance, and social history pertinent to the consult question.
- Current medications, recent changes, and adherence concerns.

Collateral / Chart Review
- Key findings from records, nursing notes, labs, imaging, or prior psychiatric notes as reviewed.

Mental Status Examination
- Appearance, behavior, speech, mood, affect, thought process/content, perception, cognition, insight, and judgment.

Safety / Risk
- Suicidal/homicidal ideation, agitation, capacity concerns if relevant, and risk formulation.

Assessment
- Diagnostic impression addressing the consult question.
- Differential and contributing medical/substance factors when relevant.

Recommendations
- Numbered, actionable recommendations for the referring team (medications, monitoring, precautions, therapy, disposition).
- What psychiatry will follow vs what the primary team owns.

Plan / Follow-Up
- Psychiatry follow-up plan, communication with referring provider, and pending items.

When to use this template

What makes the structure useful, and which visits it fits best.

Why this template works

Structural advantages for real documentation

Best for

Visit types and clinicians who use this format

  • Leads with the consult question so the note stays useful to the referring clinician.
  • Separates recommendations from narrative so action items are easy to find.
  • Includes risk and capacity language when those drive disposition decisions.
  • Works for telepsych consults and in-person liaison psychiatry visits.
  • 1Inpatient psychiatry consults
  • 2ED psychiatric consults
  • 3Outpatient specialty-to-specialty referrals

Example output shape

Illustrative excerpt of how a visit can land in this structure. Not a real patient record—review and edit every note before signing.

Consult Question
Medicine requests evaluation for agitation, capacity for AMA, and medication recommendations in a 54-year-old with alcohol withdrawal history and new confusion.

Relevant History
Prior AUD; last drink reportedly 3 days ago. On CIWA protocol. No prior psychiatric hospitalizations. Family reports baseline mild anxiety. No known antipsychotic trials.

Mental Status
Alert, oriented ×2, intermittently inattentive. Mood “irritable,” affect labile. Thought process circumstantial. No clear delusions or hallucinations today. Insight limited regarding need for continued hospitalization.

Safety / Risk
No SI/HI. Mild agitation managed with redirection. Capacity for AMA currently impaired due to fluctuating attention and incomplete appreciation of risks.

Assessment
Delirium superimposed on alcohol withdrawal vs residual intoxication effects; rule out Wernicke. Anxiety disorder by history, not primary driver of current presentation.

Recommendations
1. Continue CIWA and thiamine; hold new antidepressant until delirium clears.
2. Prefer low-dose quetiapine PRN for severe agitation over benzodiazepine escalation if CIWA controlled.
3. One-to-one observation while capacity remains impaired; reassess AMA capacity tomorrow.
4. Psychiatry will reassess in 24 hours; primary team to notify for escalating agitation or SI.

Plan
Reconsult tomorrow AM. Communicated recommendations to overnight medicine resident.

How Wavo automates this

What the product actually does with your template.

1. Add the template

Paste this content into My Templates, or start from a specialty-generated template and edit the sections.

2. Record or dictate

Capture the encounter with ambient recording or dictation. Wavo structures the note using your template.

3. Review and sign

Edit with Smart Transform if needed, then export or copy into your EHR. You stay responsible for the final note.

Put this template to work on your next visit

Start free, paste the template, and see how Wavo documents in your structure.