Identifying the Most Important Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Publications in 2020 Using a Novel Literature Assessment Instrument

Background As the science of consultation-liaison psychiatry advances, the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry's Guidelines and Evidence-Based Medicine Subcommittee reviews articles of interest to help academy members remain familiar with the latest in evidence-based practice. Objective We identify the 10 most important articles for clinical practice in consultation-liaison psychiatry from 2020 using the new Importance and Quality instrument for assessing scientific literature. Methods The subcommittee published annotated abstracts for 97 articles on the academy website in 2020. Reviewers then rated all articles on clinical importance to practice and quality of scholarship using the Importance and Quality instrument. We describe the 10 articles with the highest aggregate scores and analyze the reliability of Importance and Quality instrument. Results Twenty-four raters identified the top 10 scoring articles of 2020. These articles provide practical guidance on key areas of consultation-liaison psychiatry including management of COVID-19, lithium treatment for complex patients, medical risks among patients with severe mental illness, and substance use disorders in medical settings. The assessment instrument demonstrated good to excellent interrater reliability. Conclusion These articles offer valuable guidance for consultation-liaison psychiatrists regardless of their practice area. Collaborative literature reviews with standardized assessments help clinicians deliver evidence-based care and foster a high standard of practice across the specialty.