title: A model for evaluating the impact of consultation-liaison psychiatry activities on referral patterns.
abstract: A method for evaluating the change of the referral patterns in consultation-liaison (C-L) psychiatry is described. The method is applied to the study of the 528 requests received by a C-L team for a 2-year period, following the creation of the C-L service. Five types of C-L request are isolated and related to DSM-III-R diagnosis and other clinical variables. Final data show how the referral patterns in a general hospital can change in a positive way as a result of C-L psychiatry activity, moving from a "mending" and secondary view of psychiatric work to a collaborative and primary conceptual model.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Psychiatry, University of Extremadura Medical School, Badajoz, Spain.
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Vaz
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Salcedo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D008875:Middle Aged; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011570:Psychiatry; D012017:Referral and Consultation