Abstract:
The aim of the study was to establish a profile of psychiatric illnesses that are encountered during consultation-liaison (C-L) psychiatry and to describe interventions undertaken. The objective was to identify referral patterns, establish the referral rate, and to profile the diagnoses & describe the actions taken by the consulting doctor. This was a retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study conducted on all inpatients that were referred to psychiatry from other disciplines in the hospital for the 12 month period January to December 2009. The study was conducted at Dr George Mukhari Hospital, which is a tertiary psychiatric unit which caters for mental health care users in the Garankuwa , Soshanguve and Mabopane region.
The study found that the referral rate to psychiatric C-L services was lower than at other institutions. Amongst the referred patients, there was a high incidence of organic brain syndrome diagnoses, but a low rate of depression.
The study proposed further investigation into the reasons behind the low rate of referral and low rate of depression, so as to improve C-L service delivery in the hospital.
