Psychiatric morbidity in a series of patients referred from a trauma service

We studied the clinical characteristics of trauma patients referred to psychiatry to determine whether these patients differ from the total trauma population. A chart review of trauma cases referred to psychiatry at our setting in 1995 (N = 60) was compared with all 609 trauma admissions from the same period. The most common reasons for referral were suicide attempts and depression. The most common diagnosis was mood disorders (28%). The patients required an average 5.1 follow-up visits. The psychiatric referral group had twice the length of stay. Psychiatric illness is relatively common in trauma patients and impacts on psychiatric service resources and length of hospital stay.