The relevance of a staff-oriented approach in consultation psychiatry: a preliminary study

According to the literature, a patient-staff conflict or intra-staff conflict is often the hidden reason for requesting a psychiatric consultation. This study is specifically directed at determining the percentage of consultations in which such "staff problems" play a clinically relevant role. Indications of staff problems were found in one-third of 313 consultations investigated. These problems occurred significantly more frequently in patients admitted to surgical wards and in patients referred because of psychological disturbances related to their physical disorder, with a diagnosis of "transient situational disturbance" or "no psychiatric disorder". Consultants with relatively less experience diagnosed significantly more staff problems. In about half of the consultations with staff problems, a staff-oriented approach was applied. Lack of communication with the ward staff in question was the most frequent obstacle to applying such an approach.