The medical-psychiatric unit: a novel psychosomatic approach.
A retrospective chart review of 600 general hospital patients, of whom 200 had been admitted to a medical-psychiatric unit, 200 to a conventional psychiatric unit and 200 to medical-surgical units, and for whom psychiatric consultation had been requested, disclosed significant differences in the patient populations of these services. The data suggest that consultation psychiatry and medical-psychiatric units serve two different subgroups of patients with combined physical and psychiatric illness. A comprehensive model of clinical psychosomatic medicine encompassing consultation psychiatry, liaison psychiatry, medical-psychiatric units and after-care medical-psychiatric clinics, is proposed.
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011567:Psychiatric Department, Hospital; D011570:Psychiatry; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D011611:Psychosomatic Medicine; D012017:Referral and Consultation