A Study on the Patterns of Psychiatric Referrals in a Tertiary Care Hospital in the North-Eastern Part of India

Consultation-liaison psychiatry holds a special place, especially in general hospital setting. We wanted to study the socio-demographic variables, reasons for referral, and clinical correlates of psychiatric referrals from different wards in a tertiary care hospital.

This was a retrospective chart-review study carried out in the Gauhati Medical College Hospital, Guwahati, for a period of one month (May 2019). Demographic data of the participants was collected. Their primary medical / surgical diagnoses were noted along with the department where they were admitted. The reason for psychiatric consultation as well as the psychiatric diagnoses were analysed by descriptive statistics with the use of GraphPad InStat.

Most of the sample was men (men: women: 106:72), mostly between 11 to 30 years (44.38%) and Hindus (Hindu: Muslim: 140:38). Majority of the consultations was from the Department of Medicine (47.19%), followed by Orthopaedics (15.17%) and Surgery (14.61%). Among the surgical/medical illnesses, most of them had fractures (ten), closely followed by neurological conditions like cerebrovascular accident (five) and head injury (four). Deliberate self-harm was the most common reason for psychiatric liaison (56), that constituted a high number with poisoning (45) as well as hanging (six) and cut neck (five). Psychiatric consultation was asked for use of alcohol in a substantial number of patients (45).

Addressing the psychiatric comorbidity while continuing treatment for the surgical/medical illnesses gives a holistic approach towards our patients that can influence not only the course but also the quality of life of them.