Quality indicators for a consultation-liaison psychiatry service

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Hospital Administration

Background:

• Consultation-liaison psychiatry (CLP) services lack standardized quality indicators for efficiency and effectiveness.
• Assessing hospital-based CLP services requires a multifaceted approach combining objective and subjective measures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and apply combined objective and subjective quality indicators for hospital-based CLP services.
• To evaluate the utilization, efficiency, and effectiveness of a CLP service.

Main Methods:

• Calculated service utilization rates over four years.
• Examined patient characteristics and objective quality indicators (response timeliness) in 2012.
• Collected subjective feedback from 41 staff and 52 patients via evaluation surveys.

Main Results:

• Utilization rate stabilized around 1.03% of hospital admissions.
• High rates of timely response (91.5% same day, 99.4% next day), though urgent referral benchmark (77.4%) was unmet.
• Patients reported positive experiences (90%) but clarity issues with follow-up (68%); staff affirmed service benefits (98%) and communication (93-95%) but noted education gaps (63%) and unclear follow-up (76%).

Conclusions:

• Referral-to-contact time is a valuable objective quality indicator for CLP services.
• Combining objective measures with standardized subjective feedback from patients and staff provides a comprehensive evaluation.
• Standardized feedback mechanisms are crucial for meaningful assessment of CLP service quality.