Psychiatric consultation to medical and surgical inpatients in regional university hospital

Consultation-liaison [C-L] psychiatry is a relatively young subspecialty that is associated with all the diagnostics, therapeutic, research and teaching services that psychiatrist's perform in the general hospital. The present study was planned to determine the nature of referrals to a psychiatric consultation service, the type of intervention provided and to understand the difficulties of Consultation- Liaison [C-L] Psychiatry in Mansoura University Hospital [MUH]. The study was conducted on 203 consecutive referrals seen over one year and the basic demographic data, DSM-IV TR diagnosis and recommended interventions were noted. The rate of referrals to C-L psychiatry service was 0.49% of all hospital admission. Males constitute 56.16% of the studied sample, those belonged to productive age group of 25 years to 44 years were 42.86%. 86.7% of the patients were referred from medical departments. The most frequent reasons for referrals were for assessment of cognitive impairment [18.22%] and unexplained physical symptoms [17.73%]. The commonest psychiatric diagnosis was depressive disorders [19.21 %], followed by delirium [18.23%], adjustment/anxiety disorders [15.27%] and psychotic disorders [14.29%]. More interaction between psychiatric team and referring physician is recommended and there is urgent need for teaching medical doctors, nursing and paramedical staff the implications of consultation liaison service