Premium
Referrals from general practitioners to old age psychiatrists
Author(s) -
Brown Martin T.,
Trotter Carol A.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/gps.930091010
Subject(s) - referral , anxiety , medicine , audit , psychiatry , telephone interview , family medicine , social science , management , sociology , economics
A retrospective audit of 209 consecutive general practitioner referrals to an old age psychiatry service was performed to examine the quality of information available at the time of assessment, the diagnostic agreement and the differences between letter and telephone referrals. The information in telephone referrals was less complete, particularly for details of medical history, physical examination and investigations. However, diagnostic agreement was better for telephone than letter referrals. Overall use of cognitive function testing was low and was associated with misdiagnosis between functional and organic illness. In addition, a substantial number of cases of depressive illness were misdiagnosed as anxiety disorders or other functional illnesses. Our study suggests the need for clearer guidelines for referral procedures and continuing efforts to improve communication between general practitioners and old age psychiatrists.