A Psychiatry Outpatient Consultation-Liaison Clinic: Experience at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation

Abstract

This report describes the patients seen during the first 3 months of operation of a psychiatry outpatient consultation-liaison (C-L) clinic. A total of 113 patients were seen. For 8% of the appointments made, patients did not show up; the cancellation rate was 3.8%. Depression, anxiety, stress, and somatic symptoms were the most common reasons for referral, while the most common diagnoses made were major depression, adjustment disorder, and panic disorder. Practitioners in the fields of internal medicine, primary care, and psychology made the majority of the referrals. Patient satisfaction as expressed in a written survey was high. The results showed that an outpatient C-L clinic can be an effective way to access and treat medicine, surgery, and psychology outpatients in a big hospital setting.