Consultation-liaison psychiatry: A comparison of two service models for geriatric patients

✍ Scribed by Gregory R. J. Swanwick; Heidi Lee; Anthony W. Clare; Brian A. Lawlor

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 479 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6230
• DOI: 10.1002/gps.930090609

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

In general hospitals the psychiatric morbidity in the old and frail is at least 40%. Two models for the provision of a psychiatric service to hospitalized geriatric patients were evaluated in order to identify which model most effectively fulfilled the aims of liaison psychiatry. At present, consultation type services predominate and there is some concern that an active liaison service could increase the referral rate of cases more appropriately dealt with by physicians. In this study an active liaison model was not associated with a marked increase in the referral rate, and when compared to a service with an emphasis on consultation, there was a higher degree of diagnostic accuracy by referring doctors in the liaison type model.