Consultation liaison psychiatry in Norway

Abstract

The history of Norwegian CL psychiatry dates back to 1951 when a psychiatrist was appointed to perform psychiatric consultations at the National Hospital. Over the next 20 years, two more psychiatrists were appointed at the same hospital. A separate department was established in 1972 and is now known as the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, which is under the leadership of Professor Ulrik F. Malt. The department has been steadily growing, mainly after the head of the department also became professor at the University of Oslo in 1985. In the beginning, the department had only psychiatrists, now, there are 9 medical doctors and 6 psychologists, as well as nurses, physiotherapists, and secretaries, for a total of 24 staff members. The department is the leading CL unit in Norway, with regard to magnitude and broadness of clinical and scientific activities. In addition to meeting hospital requirements, it employs several general practitioners and specialists. It is the only Norwegian CL unit with an outpatient clinic. In addition to general CL services to patients with various medical disorders, special services are given within the field of complex psychosomatic or affective disorders, clinical psychopharmacology, neuropsychiatry, and gender identity disorder. At Ulleval University Hospital, which is the Norwegian hospital with the most number of beds, a part-time psychiatrist was affiliated to one of the medical departments in the late 1950s, mainly working with patients with lung disease and, later, with those with cardiac problems. In the late 1970s, a full-time CL psychiatrist was appointed. The psychiatric department had no formal CL unit, and the psychiatrists on duty, often young residents, provided the service. The author has been working as a consultant psychiatrist at the Department of Acute Medicine since