A model for evaluating the impact of consultation-liaison psychiatry activities on referral patterns

A method for evaluating the change of the referral patterns in consultation-liaison (C-L) psychiatry is described. The method is applied to the study of the 528 requests received by a C-L team for a 2-year period, following the creation of the C-L service. Five types of C-L request are isolated and related to DSM-III-R diagnosis and other clinical variables. Final data show how the referral patterns in a general hospital can change in a positive way as a result of C-L psychiatry activity, moving from a "mending" and secondary view of psychiatric work to a collaborative and primary conceptual model.