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The General Hospital Psychiatrist: Too Many Tasks and Too Few Roles?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Tom Sensky
Tom Sensky*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, Fulham Palace Road, London W6 8RF
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Abstract

What should the general hospital psychiatrist do, and how should he do it? In psychiatric settings, psychiatrists may legitimately confine their attention to those patients whose disorders can be classified according to ICD-9, but in general hospital settings, the same approach defines a very restricted range of activities. Evidence is reviewed which highlights the differences between psychiatric disorders encountered in psychiatric hospitals and those found in primary care or general hospital settings. Different activities proposed for the general hospital psychiatrist, and the results of research comparing these, are reviewed. A recent study is discussed in which alteration of the psychiatrist's method of practice in a general medical unit produced considerable changes in the pattern of psychiatric referrals. Evaluation of the efficacy of their interventions should remain the ultimate goal of general hospital psychiatrists. This can be adequately undertaken only by means of better understanding of the process by which general hospital patients attract psychiatric referral.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 148 , Issue 2 , February 1986 , pp. 151 - 158
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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