Psychiatrie de liaison : quelle psychiatrie pour quelles liaisons ?

The term of “liaison psychiatry” is used for a wide range of medical practices. The liaison psychiatry is the exercise of psychiatry in general hospitals, with patients hospitalised in somatic care departments: full time hospitalisation, day-limited stays, emergency units, and outpatient's consultations. It also aims to help caregivers and medical institutions. Liaison psychiatry works in collaboration with psychologists. Liaison psychiatry is supposed to answer two requests: one from the patient and the other from the caregivers or their institution. The psychiatrist is supposed to have polyvalent abilities concerning the entire psychiatric spectrum, as well as an in depth knowledge of links between somatic and psychological symptoms. He is also required to have an expertise in some specific medical fields essentially in specialised medical or surgical department recruitments in the hospital he works in. The liaison psychiatrist is confronted to numerous difficulties, essentially due to his external position concerning the medical departments. Generally psychiatry is conceived as part of the institution's services. A good example of these difficulties has been provided by the psychiatric care given to suicidal patients who have ingested caustic products. Psychiatry liaison will expand in the future. Today the limited number of doctors allowed to practise in French hospitals essentially limits it.     

The effects of a psychiatric liaison program on the utilization of psychiatric consultations: an evaluation by chart audit.

The effects of a psychiatric liaison program were studied by a chart audit examination of psychiatric consultations on a medical service. A comparison of the full liaison ward with the other wards revealed significant differences in the use of emergency consultation and psychiatric follow-up treatment. The results indicated improved psychologic management of medical patients on wards with intense liaison involvement but no measurable change in attitude toward the psychiatrist. Evaluation methodology and implications of the results are discussed.     

The guideline “consultation psychiatry” of the Netherlands Psychiatric Association

Background

In 2008, the Netherlands Psychiatric Association authorized a guideline “consultation psychiatry.”

Aim

To set a standard for psychiatric consultations in nonpsychiatric settings. The main objective of the guideline is to answer three questions: Is psychiatric consultation effective and, if so, which forms are most effective? How should a psychiatric consultations be performed? What increases adherence to recommendations given by the consulting psychiatrist?

Method

Systematic literature review.

Results

Both in general practice and in hospital settings psychiatric consultation is effective. In primary care, the effectiveness of psychiatric consultation is almost exclusively studied in the setting of “collaborative care.” Procedural guidance is given on how to perform a psychiatric consultation. In this guidance, psychiatric consultation is explicitly looked upon as a complex activity that requires a broad frame of reference and adequate medical and pharmacological expertise and experience and one that should be performed by doctors. Investing in a good relation with the general practitioner, and the use of a “consultation letter” increased efficacy in general practice. In the hospital setting, investing in liaison activities and an active psychiatric follow-up of consultations increased adherence to advice.

Conclusion

Psychiatric consultations are effective and constitute a useful contribution to the patients' treatment. With setting a standard consultations will become more transparent and checkable. It is hoped that this will increase the quality of consultation psychiatry.     

Psychiatric consultation on an otolaryngology liaison service

Otolaryngology patients (especially those with tracheostomies) present a significant challenge to psychiatrists from both a diagnostic and therapeutic standpoint. To date, no study has been made of psychiatric disorders among this important group of patients. At the Mount Sinai Medical Center, a liaison psychiatrist has been involved with a specialized otolaryngology cluster unit since 1979. Using a 384-item computerized database protocol developed at Mount Sinai, data on 139 otolaryngology patients were recorded and compared with 1662 "Other" inpatient psychiatric consultations on the medical and surgical services during 1980-1987. The otolaryngology patients as a group were more likely to be male (p = 0.011), married (p = 0.001) and employed (p less than 0.001). Cancer was the most common medical disorder, and the average level of stress as reported on DSM-III's Axis IV (5.1, severe) was significantly greater (p less than 0.0001) than that for the "Other." The most common psychiatric response was adjustment disorder (36%). The length of stay of those ENT patients seen in psychiatric consultation was 26.4 days, in contrast to 11.1 days for all ENT patients. However, the length of stay of those patients on ENT receiving a psychiatric consultation was not different from the "Other" psychiatric consultation cohort (26.3 days). Despite the higher level of stress, the incidence of significant psychiatric morbidity was lower for the ENT cohort. The primary effect of the liaison psychiatrist was to lower the threshold for case identification that enhanced the referral rate on the ENT unit.     

Alcoholism consultation and general hospital psychiatry

The author explores the relationship between consultation-liaison psychiatry and alcoholism as it presents in the general hospital. He discusses cases that illustrate specific problems, reviews the studies of alcoholism prevalence in the medical and surgical services of general hospitals, and emphasizes the liaison and consultation roles of the general hospital psychiatrist around alcoholism diagnosis, management, and treatment referral.     

Physical illness diagnosed as psychiatric: Patients at special risk

Recent research has further confirmed the significant incidence of undiagnosed physical illness in patients presenting psychiatric symptoms. Such research has generally involved psychiatric inpatient or outpatient populations. As a liaison psychiatrist in a general hospital, the author defines two especially high-risk groups for such missed diagnoses and emphasizes the fact that psychiatric symptoms are not illness specific. An approach to the clinical evaluation of such patients is discussed, mentioning the inherent medicolegal implications.     

Medical and surgical consultations to a general hospital psychiatric unit

This study reviews 563 medical and surgical consultations to a general hospital psychiatric unit over three years. In addition to an analysis of the consultations by service and month, consulted patients are compared with nonconsulted patients by age, sex, and diagnosis. Parallels are drawn to psychiatric consultations as reported in the consultation-liaison literature to medical and surgical patients. Two important findings from the present study are that depressed patients received significantly (P < 0.01) fewer consultations than expected, and that 49% of one year's consultations were for active medical problems not related to the reason for psychiatric admission.     

The teaching of consultation-liaison psychiatry in the undergraduate curriculum of Canadian medical schools

The teaching of consultation liaison psychiatry in the undergraduate curriculum of the 16 Canadian medical schools and the views of the directors of undergraduate psychiatric education were surveyed with a 25-item questionnaire. Some teaching in consultation liaison psychiatry is provided by 14 medical schools. The predominant format of teaching is that of supervised experience, and systematic evaluation of this teaching is uniformly absent. The amount of consultation liaison teaching was small. More than 90% of the students were assigned primarily or exclusively to an inpatient service during their psychiatric clerkship. The majority of the respondents thought that the response of staff and students to the teaching of consultation liaison was good or excellent, that this teaching should be an obligatory part of the curriculum, that it would increase in the next five years, that insufficient staff was a factor impeding it, and that an increase in staff psychiatrists specializing in consultation liaison psychiatry would facilitate this teaching in their department. It is suggested that the consultation liaison psychiatry teaching of medical students should be increased, in the short term by making greater use of services and resources. In the longer term, however, such increase would be dependent on the growth and development of consultation liaison services in the teaching hospitals across the country.     

综合医院精神科会诊5年变迁

目的：了解大型综合医院精神医学联合会诊的变化趋势。方法：将本院1994年和1999年邀请精神科会诊的科室分布、病种、诊断、转科及用药情况进行对比分析。结果：会诊科室中内、外科会诊比例显著上升,妇产科、神经内科会诊比例显著下降。诊断以器质性精神障碍、抑郁性神经症显著上升,情感性精神障碍,心因性精神障碍比例有一定程度上升,精神分裂症比例有较大幅度下降。会诊后转入精神科的比例显著下降,使用精神药物的比例显著上升。结论：综合医院的精神医学问题需要精神科医生的协助处理。应加强联络－会请精神病学的工作,精神医学服务特别是对轻性精神障碍的诊疗应主动延伸至综合科室。     

The structure of internists' attitudes toward psychosocial factors in patient care

Through observations of liaison intervention on an acute medical inpatient service, the authors question the dichotomous biomedical/biopsychosocial conceptualization of medical care. They posit a hierarchy of attitudinal constructs employed by physicians in their work with patients and study these through the use of questionnaires and semistructured interviews. Efforts at validating data are described, and it is suggested that an understanding of the range of physicians' attitudes is important to enhance educational efforts in liaison psychiatry.     

Geriatric psychiatry versus general psychiatry inpatient treatment of the elderly

OBJECTIVE: The authors compared the clinical treatment given older psychiatric inpatients on a geriatric psychiatry unit and a general psychiatry unit. METHOD: The charts of 50 randomly selected general psychiatry inpatients over the age of 65 years and 50 inpatients from the geriatric psychiatry unit who were matched for age, gender, and primary diagnosis were reviewed. RESULTS: Significantly greater percentages of older inpatients treated on the geriatric psychiatry unit received complete organic medical workups, structured cognitive assessment, aging-sensitive aftercare referral, and monitoring of psychopharmacological side effects and blood levels than comparable patients on a general psychiatry unit. CONCLUSIONS: Geriatric psychiatry subspecialty inpatient care appears to be associated with distinct clinically relevant assessment and treatment advantages. Continuing geropsychiatric education of general psychiatrists is indicated.     

Psychogeriatric consultation. General Hospital versus home for the aged

As more elderly persons are institutionalized in long-term care settings, there will be an increasing need for psychiatric consultation-liaison (C/L) services. An understanding of how patterns of C/L service provision differ in these settings from those in the general hospital is important for efficient use of resources. In this study, certain characteristics of psychiatric consultations for the elderly patients in a general hospital were compared to consultations in a home for the aged. Three groups of 30 patients were examined: patients age 60 and over in a general hospital (GH), patients under age 60 in a general hospital (GHY), and patients in a home for the aged (HA). GH and GHY shared many characteristics, but there were significant differences between HA and GH: Consultations for HA were less likely to be urgent and more likely to be for management. Dementia was diagnosed in 70% of HA versus 27% in GH. Types of interventions were similar in GH and HA except that more psychotherapy was done in HA. In HA more contact was made with allied health professionals, while in GH there was more contact with medical personnel. GH patients were seen more intensively during the first 2 weeks following referral. We conclude that the major part-time attendance of a psychiatrist skilled in both the behavioral management of demented patients and liaison with allied health professionals is likely to be sufficient in long-term care institutions for elderly patients. However, the psychiatrist must also be proficient in the education of the staff of the institution so as to encourage the referral of all those patients who require psychiatric attention.     

Evaluation of 294 psychiatric consultations involving in-patients above 70 years of age in somatic departments in a university hospital

ABSTRACT: The integrated geropsychiatric service of the Psychiatric Department of the University Hospital in Linköping consists of an observation ward, a day unit and an out-patient unit. One of the main tasks of the last-mentioned unit is to provide geropsychiatric consultations for in-patients in the non-psychiatric departments of the hospital. During the first 2 years from October 1982 to October 1984 300 consultations were performed. The consultations included registration of social, medical and psychiatric data, a psychiatric examination, discussions with the staff and a psychiatric report. Out of the total number of 300 consultations 294 could be evaluated completely. They comprised 247 individuals. The evaluation was performed after the first 2 years by screening the patients’ psychiatric records and reports and by computer-analysis of 89 variables covering medical as well as social data. The patients’ mean age was 78 years and 52% were treated in the Department of Internal Medicine. Fifty-three percent had had previous psychiatric contacts. Many were suffering from serious somatic diseases and 22% from depressive states. Only 9% showed no signs of psychiatric disorders. Twenty-three percent of the patients were transferred to the geropsychiatric observation ward or day unit and only 3% were recommended to be certified and transferred to a mental hospital. Pertinent findings are discussed in the light of international data on geropsychiatric consultations and liaison psychiatry. The study shows the importance of providing special geropsychiatric consultations for in-patients in somatic departments as a part of an integrated geropsychiatric service.     

Toward Understanding Errors in Inpatient Psychiatry: A Qualitative Inquiry

While prior research has identified the impact, nature, and causes of medical error in general medical settings, little is known about errors in inpatient psychiatry. Understanding the broad range of errors that occur in inpatient psychiatry is a critical step toward improving systems of care for a vulnerable patient population. An explorative qualitative analysis of key informant interviews identified a preliminary typology of errors and the contextual factors that precipitate them in inpatient psychiatry. The types of errors and their contextual factors fall broadly within the rubric of categories identified in medicine and surgery. However, many of the specific errors and contextual factors manifest themselves differently and are shaped by the uniqueness of the inpatient psychiatric setting and patient population. Interventions geared toward improving systems of care for psychiatric patients should draw on best practices for safety in medicine and surgery, but also be complemented with new strategies specifically tailored to the inpatient psychiatric setting.     

Trends in mental health services for people with intellectual disability in residential care in Israel 1998-2004

Persons with intellectual disability (ID) have more mental health problems than the general population and utilize psychiatric service to a greater extent. This study was conducted to look at trends over time in the number of psychiatrists recruited, psychiatric medication and hospitalization for persons with ID in residential care in Israel. Data was extracted for the 1998-2004 period from the annual surveys conducted of medical service in all residential care centers in Israel by the Office of the Medical Director. Results showed an increase in psychiatrists working with this population, from 1.08 psychiatrist per 1,000 study population in 1998 to 2.23 in 2004, psychotropic medication also increased from 45% to 52% over the same period, but psychiatric inpatient hospitalization decreased from 5.48 to 4.99 per 1,000 study population. It is concluded that there has been an improvement in psychiatric service to this residential care population over the study period, but there is a need for a formal subspecialty in psychiatry, training and research.     

A UK survey of psychiatric services for older people in general hospitals

BACKGROUND: Psychiatric illness is common in older people in general hospitals, but little is known of the service models operating in the UK, or of the views of old age psychiatrists regarding service provision in this area. We set out to determine the range of UK old age psychiatry service models for older people in general hospital wards, and the opinions of clinicians on future service priorities and development. METHOD: A postal questionnaire survey of old age psychiatrists providing psychiatric services to older people in general hospital wards. RESULTS: 73% of services were provided through a generic, sector-based, consultation psychiatry model. The remaining 27% employed a range of general hospital-based liaison psychiatry services for older people, involved in proactively seeking referrals and educating general hospital staff. Those providing a generic sector-based model were significantly slower at responding to referrals. 89% of respondents were unhappy with their service to older people in general hospital wards, with only 11% preferring the generic sector-based model. Organisational barriers to change identified included the management of mental health care and physical care by different organisations. Training, both of psychiatric staff in this specialist area, and of general hospital staff in the detection and basic management of common psychiatric conditions in the general hospital setting, was felt to be necessary. CONCLUSIONS: The management of co-morbid psychiatric and physical illness in older people is an important issue for health services. Old age psychiatrists are unhappy with the prevalent, reactive, consultation-based model, preferring a range of liaison psychiatry models based in the general hospital. The most important barriers to service development in this area were the separate managerial arrangements for psychiatric and physical care services, and a lack of evidence for effective old age psychiatry services in this setting.     

Alcohol and drug problems: a challenge to consultation-liaison psychiatry

Although alcohol and drug problems are prevalent in the population at large and among patients in general hospitals, they have not been a major concern of consultation-liaison psychiatry. A setting in which all psychiatric consultations are directed to such problems, the Clinical Institute of the Addiction Research Foundation, is described, and parameters of its consultation experience are explored. It is suggested that dealing with alcohol and drug problems should become an integral aspect of consultation-liaison psychiatry. Such a development may prove to be especially fruitful in teaching a comprehensive approach to patient care.     

Psychiatry and the need for mental health care in Australia: findings from the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing

OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the pattern of consultations reported with psychiatrists and primary mental health care providers in the Australian adult population. It explores whether inequalities found in utilization of psychiatric services according to area are different in degree from inequalities in utilization of medical and surgical specialists,and describes the meeting of perceived needs for mental health care within those seen by psychiatrists. METHOD: The National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing (NSMHW) was a community survey employing clustered probability sampling, with a computerized field questionnaire which included sections of the composite international diagnostic interview (CIDI), as well as self-reported service utilization and perceived needs for care. RESULTS: By survey estimates, 1.8% of the Australian population consulted a psychiatrist in the last year. Among people with an ICD 10-diagnosed mental disorder, 7.3% consulted a psychiatrist.Only about one in five people seen by a psychiatrist report the psychiatrist as the only mental health care provider. Disadvantaged areas of the cities and remote areas, when compared with the least deprived areas of the cities, showed lower rates of utilization.This effect is stronger in psychiatry than in other specialties.Patients seeing psychiatrists seem to be a more satisfied group than those seeing only other providers; nonetheless, some needs are not well met, and the role of the psychiatrist cannot be isolated as the cause of this satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Most care delivered by psychiatrists is de facto shared care. Psychiatrists as clinical professionals need to be continually mindful of the need to communicate with others providing care. Psychiatric services in Australia are not delivered in an equitable manner,and the inequalities are greater for psychiatric services than for other medical specialties.     

Expansion of the consultation-liaison psychiatry paradigm at a university medical center: integration of diversified clinical and funding models

The perspective of the contemporary Consultation-Liason Service (CLS) psychiatrist is increasingly one of consultant to medical and surgical colleagues in models other than inpatient medical and surgical units. Simultaneously, the need for a clinically and educationally robust inpatient CLS persists despite funding pressures. The University of California, Davis Medical Center Department of Psychiatry has made use of creative organizational and financial models to accomplish the inpatient CLS clinical and educational missions in a fiscally responsible manner. In addition, the department has in recent years expanded the delivery of psychiatry consultation-liaison clinical and educational services to other models of care delivery, broadening the role and influence of the CLS. Several of the initiatives described in this paper parallel an overall evolution of the practice of consultation-liaison psychiatry in response to managed care influences and other systems pressures. This consultation-liaison paradigm expansion with diversified sources of funding support facilitates the development of consultation-liaison psychiatry along additional clinical, administrative, research, and educational dimensions. Other university medical centers may consider adaptation of some of the initiatives described here to their institutions.