Citation

Christodoulou CG, Fineti K, Douzenis A, Moussas G, Michopoulos I, Lykouras L. Ann. Gen. Psychiatry 2008; 7.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/1744-859X-7-10

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There are only a few reports on issues related to patient transfer from medical and surgical departments to the psychiatric ward by the consultation-liaison psychiatry service, although it is a common practice. Here, we present a study assessing the factors that influence such transfers.

METHOD: We examined the demographic and clinical backgrounds of a group of patients transferred from internal medicine and surgery to the psychiatric ward over an 11-year period. A comparison was made of this data with data obtained from a group of non-transferred patients, also seen by the same consultation-liaison psychiatry service.

RESULTS: According to our findings, the typical transferred patient, either female or male, is single, divorced or widowed, lives alone, belongs to a lower socioeconomic class, presents initially with (on the whole) a disturbed and disruptive behaviour, has had a recent suicide attempt with persistent suicidal ideas, suffers from a mood disorder (mainly depressive and dysthymic disorders), has a prior psychiatric history as well as a prior psychiatric inpatient treatment, and a positive diagnosis on axis II of the five axis system used for mental health diagnosis.

CONCLUSION: The transfer of a patient to the psychiatric ward is a decision depending on multiple factors. Medical diagnoses do not seem to play a major role in the transfer to the psychiatric ward. From the psychiatric diagnosis, depressive and dysthymic disorders are the most common in the transferred population, whilst the transfer is influenced by social factors regarding the patient, the patient's behaviour, the conditions in the ward she/he is treated in and any recent occurrence(s) that increase the anxiety of the staff. © 2008 Christodoulou et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Language: en

Keywords

adolescent; adult; human; female; male; aged; suicidal ideation; depression; suicide attempt; liaison psychiatry; mood disorder; internal medicine; article; major clinical study; mental disease; controlled study; socioeconomics; dysthymia; psychiatric department; health service; social aspect; medical decision making; patient transport; demography; anamnesis; clinical examination; Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders; disruptive behavior