title: Individual patient--doctor contact in a mental hospital.
abstract: Patients admitted to Friern Hospital in 1972 stayed on average for about 5 weeks and spent a total of less than 2 hours individually with senior and junior doctors. Long-stay patients (1 year or more) saw their doctors for an average of less than 1 hour a year. These findings, which in the case of junior doctors were corroborated in 1974, refer only to the time doctors spent with patients alone. The admission, and long-stay discharge rates were greater in the Islington than in the Camden division, and probably reflect differences in clinical practice. It is argued that more psychiatrists are needed--precisely how many will depend on studies of the relative efficiency of different services and training programmes, and on agreement among psychiatrists about minimum professional standards.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008131:London; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation; D008875:Middle Aged; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D013997:Time Factors