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What proportion of primary psychiatric interventions are based on evidence from randomised controlled trials?
J R Geddes1, D Game, N E Jenkins
1University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, UK.
Objectives:
To estimate the proportion of psychiatric inpatients receiving primary interventions based on randomised controlled trials or systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials.
Design:
Retrospective survey.
Setting:
Acute adult general psychiatric ward.
Subjects:
All patients admitted to the ward during a 28 day period.
Main Outcome Measures:
Primary interventions were classified according to whether or not they were supported by evidence from randomised controlled trials or systematic reviews.
Results:
The primary interventions received by 26/40 (65%; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 51% to 79%) of patients admitted during the period were based on randomised trials or systematic reviews.
Conclusions:
When patients were used as the denominator, most primary interventions given in acute general psychiatry were based on experimental evidence. The evidence was difficult to locate; there is an urgent need for systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials in this area.