Use of the psychiatric consultation letter as a therapeutic tool.
OBJECTIVE
Carefully crafted medical consultation letters can serve the dual purpose of transmitting the consulted psychiatrist's opinion to the referring doctor and enhancing the quality of the doctor-patient therapeutic relationship. Using the same document for both purposes simultaneously can enhance the consultation letter's overall effectiveness, as illustrated by three case examples.


CONCLUSIONS
Future teaching programmes for undergraduate and postgraduate psychiatry students should incorporate consultation letter writing workshops to improve students' skills in clearly expressing their opinions and management recommendations in written form.
Couper
Jeremy
J
Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic., Australia. couperjw@svhm.org.au
Harari
Edwin
E
D000293:Adolescent; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D015709:Correspondence as Topic; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000193:education*; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000639:trends*; D012648:Self Care / Q000523:psychology; D012652:Self Mutilation / Q000175:diagnosis; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis