Liaison inpatient psychiatric treatment of patients at the General Hospital Uzice

Abstract

Introduction: Psychiatric symptoms are manifested in a large number of hospitalized somatic patients, therefore looking from professional and methodological, but also from the cost-benefit aspect, application of consultative psychiatry in the other fields of medicine is very important. Objective The aim of the research was to determine which department of the General Hospital Uzice had the highest number of psychiatric consultations and for which diagnoses, and to establish the prevalence of particular psychiatric disorders among the patients hospitalized on non-psychiatric departments. Material and methods: This retrospective study included 893 patients hospitalized on non-psychiatric departments of the General Hospital Uzice, examined by consultant psychiatrists during the period from September 2013 to September 2014. The research instrument was the medical documentation of psychiatrists-consultants. Results: The greatest number of psychiatric consultations was carried out at the following departments: internal medicine (30,10%), orthopedics (16,57%), surgery (13,33%) and neurology (8,85%). The most frequent psychiatric diagnoses during the consultative psychiatry examinations were chronic psychoorganic syndrome (28,12%), depressive disorders (14,12%), different forms of dementias (10,07%), acute psychoorganic syndrome (9,97%), psychological disorders associated with somatic disease (6,83%), disorders associated with alcoholism (6,27%). All other diagnoses were present in 15 % of reported cases. Conclusion: The greatest number of psychiatric consultations was completed at departments of internal medicine, orthopedics, surgery and neurology. Psychiatric diagnoses, which were the most prevalent among hospitalized somatic patients, show that the cognitive disorders are still the main area of activity of consultative psychiatry.