Family diagnoses missed on a clinical inpatient service.
Methods for taking family psychiatric histories have been developed primarily for research rather than clinical settings. The authors compared family histories obtained independently by a research team and by PGY-3 residents on 52 consecutively admitted adult psychiatric inpatients. In contrast to the residents, the research team used a family tree, screening questions, and a structured interview based on diagnostic criteria and identified more than four times as many diagnoses in relatives as did the residents. The results demonstrate that a family history strategy derived from research methodology significantly enhances the gathering of important diagnostic information in a clinical inpatient setting.
D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005190:Family; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics; D010375:Pedigree; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000193:education; D012107:Research Design