[A comparison of consultative psychiatric services in two Brazilian university hospitals using a standardized protocol for recording liaison consultations]

The objective of the present report was to compare consultative psychiatric services in two Brazilian university hospitals and to evaluate the applicability of a standardized protocol (PRISMe) for recording psychiatric liaison consultations. Analyses of psychiatric consultations and the attached protocol were performed. 541 consecutive liaison consultations were included in the final sample (438 consecutive consultations from the Federal university hospital in São Paulo and 103 from the Federal university hospital in Santa Catarina). In both hospitals, the majority of patients were female, married, white, and 31 to 60 years of age. Depression and adjustment and personality disorders were the most common psychiatric diagnoses, which could explain the higher referral of female patients. The results are consistent with the Brazilian and international literature, and the differences between the two hospitals could be related to both logistical differences between the consultative psychiatric services and the socioeconomic contexts. The findings confirm the applicability of the PRISMe and suggest that systematization of clinical and demographic information is important for future comparative studies.