A preliminary study of staff perception of psychiatric services in general hospitals

There has been increasing recognition of the importance of integrating physical and psychiatric care under growing economic pressure. We conducted a survey of staff perception on psychiatric services in four general hospitals. The purpose of this study was to see differences among the staff in their recognition and expectation of the role of the psychiatric department and the need for psychiatric and other staff to work more closely together. Although 81% of psychiatrists recognized their role in acute psychiatry, only 42.6% thought that acute psychiatry was the most important role of psychiatry. Mood disorders were recognized as a psychiatric category in 95.2% of psychiatrists and 54.8% of nonpsychiatrist physicians. Overall satisfaction with psychiatric services in psychiatric and other staff were 54.0% and 68.2%, respectively. Although 85.7% of psychiatrists answered that they supported staff in other departments that have psychiatric or psychological problems, only 53.5% of those staff in other departments were satisfied with their support. Staff in other departments expected psychiatric staff to establish consultation hotlines and to visit other departments regularly. Our results suggest that there are discrepancies between psychiatric and other staff in their perception of psychiatric services, and it is our belief that those gaps must be bridged for better collaboration in general hospitals.