Pattern of Inpatient Consultation-liaison Psychiatry Utility in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Consultation-liaison psychiatry (C-LP) is an interface between physical and psychological health where the psychiatrists become a part of the medical team for a holistic approach in the treatment of the patient.

Our study aimed to see the pattern and utility of C-LP services among inpatient referrals to the department of psychiatry.

This observational descriptive study recorded inpatient referrals to the department of psychiatry of a tertiary care hospital for 2 months.

The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M. I. N. I.) was administered for identifying the comorbid psychiatric diagnoses.

Most of the received inpatient referrals were for male patients (73.7%) in the age group of 30-60 years (58%). Overall, the referral rate was significantly higher from the emergency department and intensive care units (ICU) (50%), followed by specialty (medicine and surgery) wards (20%) and super specialty (cardiology, gastroenterology, and oncology) wards (16%). Altered sensorium and restlessness were the most common reasons for referral (42%), followed by alcohol/drug withdrawal (21.6%), somatic complaints (7.3%), sadness of mood, disturbed sleep, and deliberate self-harm (6% each). Substance use disorders, including alcohol and opioid (32%), delirium (25%), and depression (19%), were among the most common psychiatric diagnoses seen in the referred patients.

The pattern observed indicates that most inpatient referrals for psychological evaluation are received for altered sensorium from emergency and ICU than wards. The utility of C-LP helps to understand the reciprocal interdependence between the medical illness and the psychiatric comorbidity.