A Descriptive Study of Referral Pattern in Department of Psychiatry of A Tertiary Care Hospital of North India.

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Liaison psychiatry is the one of the lynchpin between psychiatry and the other medical specialties. The incidence of mental disorders in hospitalized physically ill patients has been found to range from 5.0% to 50.0%.4 The objective of our study was to study the frequency and pattern of psychiatric referral at department of psychiatry, University College of Medical Sciences & Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital, Delhi. Materials and Methods: This study was carried in the psychiatry outpatient’s department of University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital, Delhi. Between all possible consecutive cases referred from different out patient and inpatient departments February 2010 to 2011 were included in the study. The subjects were assessed during a semistructured proforma and try severe established in ICD-10. Results: Total number of 484 of patients was referred medicine department sent the maximum number of consultations, followed by surgery, Eye/ENT, orthopaedics. The most prevalent ICD-10 diagnosis was depressive disorder .Psychiatric consultation was sought for various reasons including expert opinion, abnormal behavior, irrelevant talk and other reasons. Conclusion: Consultation Psychiatry through the referral system is only a tip of the iceberg of the actual potential of psychiatric involvement in general hospital practice. There is need for research in this field to explore ways. Further research to warranted to find ways to realise the actual potential of consultation-liaison Psychiatry in a tertiary hospital setup.