Psychiatric morbidity in an accident and emergency department. Characteristics of patients at presentation and one month follow-up.
In order to evaluate how many patients presenting at accident and emergency (A&E) departments show signs of psychiatric disturbance, 140 consecutive medical presentations to an A&E department were evaluated using a range of simple self-report and rater measures, then followed up a month later. High levels of reported psychological problems were detected at screening, and these persisted at follow-up. Correlates of psychological disturbance and repeated attendance at A&E were investigated, indicating the relevance and feasibility of psychiatric intervention related to simple predictors.
Salkovskis
P M
PM
University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital.
Storer
D
D
Atha
C
C
Warwick
H M
HM
D000328:Adult; D004630:Emergencies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013997:Time Factors