Research in Medicine

Background: Mental disorders may interfere, aggravate or mimic medical conditions. Treatment of such disorders may improve the course of theunderlying disease and promote  patient's quality of life. This study was carried out to evaluate the characteristics of psychiatric referrals during one year (2002), in Taleghani hospital.

 Materials and methods: The study was performed by weekly analysis of all psychiatric  consultations. Initial data including sex, age, referral ward, underlying disease, and cause of  psychiatric consultation were gathered.

Results: A total of 201 consecutive patients (1.6% of all admitted subjects to the hospital)  referred for consultation. They were mainly referred from the Endocrinology (15%), CCU   (13.6%), and Cardiology (12.6%) wards. The most frequent reasons of referral were: current   psychiatric symptom (55%), presence of psychiatric history (15%), and aggression (10%).  Main diagnosis turned out to be depression (36%), adjustment disorder (16.5%) and delirium  (15%).

  Conclusion: These results highlight the role and functioning of consultation in a general  hospital, but further studies are required to evaluate the importance of such a service to  improve patient care and psychiatric education in various medical wards.