Liasion psychiatry–1 year review in psychiatry department of centro hospitalar Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal

Abstract

Introduction

Liasion psychiatry is a clinical area of psychiatry that includes psychiatric assistant activities in other medical and surgical areas of a general hospital. In Portugal, it has developed as a result of psychiatry integration in general hospitals. Historically, it started at the beginning of 1930s in USA. In Portugal, the law 413 of 1971 definned the articulation of mental health services with other health services–liasion psychiatry.

Objective

We aim to define patients evaluated in the context of liasion psychiatry, as well as other medical and surgical areas needs of psychiatry collaboration.

Methods

Retrospective analyses of collaboration requests realized to psychiatry department of centro hospitalar Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro–Vila Real, between October 2014 and October 2015.

Discussion

Most of collaboration requests came from Internal Medicine Service. Authors systematize the reasons for the requests, the time of response to those, the existence of psychiatric history, the type of intervention, the number of observations in the same patient, the most frequent diagnosis and treatment. This psychiatric service consists of four specialists and activity evaluated in this article is one of the clinical areas where these professionals intervene. Depending on the results, it is interesting then to assess needs and optimize available resources.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.