Abstract
I have read with interest recent publications regarding the proposed changes in psychiatric education (Brown et al, Psychiatric Bulletin , June 2005, 29 , 228–230; [Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2005][1]) and have wondered where psychotherapy training, as part of basic specialist training, will
Highlights
In recent negotiations local healthcare commissioners told us that we would be unlikely to attract additional resources to our liaison psychiatry service until we changed our name because ‘We don’t know what you do!’
We asked 48 patients referred to our service and 108 general hospital staff for their preferred name for our service from a choice of four: psychological medicine, medical psychiatry, liaison psychiatry, hospital psychiatry
Dr Husain (Psychiatric Bulletin, August 2005, 29, 316) makes a very pertinent point in response to my proposal that duty consultants be replaced by telephone advice
Summary
In recent negotiations local healthcare commissioners told us that we would be unlikely to attract additional resources to our liaison psychiatry service until we changed our name because ‘We don’t know what you do!’. We asked 48 patients referred to our service and 108 general hospital staff for their preferred name for our service from a choice of four: psychological medicine, medical psychiatry, liaison psychiatry, hospital psychiatry. The first choice of patients was psychological medicine (44%), with 27% preferring liaison psychiatry. The first choice of hospital staff was liaison psychiatry (42%), with only 16% preferring psychological medicine. Hospital staff commented that they were familiar with our service and that a change of name would be confusing. We recommend that a newly established service consider psychological medicine as a name that is preferred by many patients, and one that may be perceived as less stigmatising. It is clear that without an alternative name we will have to educate them about the benefits of liaison psychiatry
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