Timothy Barrett
University of Manchester, Bahamas
Title: Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry in the Princess Margaret Hospital – Nassau, Bahamas
Biography
Biography: Timothy Barrett
Abstract
Consultation-liaison Psychiatry [a.k.a. liaison psychiatry, consultative psychiatry or psychosomatic medicine] is a branch of psychiatry that takes place in a general hospital or medical setting and it involves the psychiatric team in the care of persons with general medical, surgical, obstetrical and gynecological and other physical medicine diagnoses.This branch of psychiatry was formally recognized as a subspecialty in 2004 and was named Psychosomatic Medicine.In New Providence, Bahamas, consultation-liaison consults were referred to the Community Mental Health psychiatric team based at the Community Counseling and Assessment Center [CCAC]. Until January 2007 the junior medical staff was the mainstay of provision of services. However, starting the first Monday in 2007 weekly consultant teaching ward rounds were instituted and continue until the present.It has long been recognized that psychiatric factors increase the risk for the development and poor outcomes of physical disorders [Stoudemire et al.]. Prompt appropriate management of psychological problems and distress in persons diagnosed with a physical medical disorder results in lower morbidity, reduced mortality rates, reduced length of stay in hospital as well as reduced readmission rates.This retrospective study was done to assess and evaluate the referral patterns and numbers of the various departments of the general medical hospital as well as provide baseline data for establishing current and future human resource requirements for providing these services.The study also points to areas of deficiency in targeting the precise reason for referral as well as the physical medical diagnosis. Finally, the current status is described.