Best practices: the consultation-liaison in primary-care psychiatry program: a structured approach to long-term collaboration.
This column presents the Consultation-Liaison in Primary-Care Psychiatry model, which was developed in Australia. This model is a structured approach to collaborative care of people with mental illnesses between primary care services and specialist mental health services. The first component of the model is a consultation, liaison, and education service provided by psychiatric consultants at participating general practices. The second component involves transferring selected patients from community mental health services into general practitioner-based collaborative care. In the final component a clinical case-register and reminder system managed by the specialist services is used to actively promote follow-up for transferred clients. The column also offers some evidentiary support for this care model that suggests a best-practices model for maintaining adequacy of care for patients.
Southern Synergy, Dandenong Hospital, Dandenong, Victoria 3175, Australia. graham.meadows@med.monash.edu
Graham N
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Meadows
Carol A
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Harvey
Lynette
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Joubert
David
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Barton
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D001315:Australia; D003156:Community Mental Health Services; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008329:Managed Care Programs; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D009313:National Health Programs; D010348:Patient Care Team; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011570:Psychiatry; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D055502:Secondary Prevention