Evaluation of consultations requested from the departments of child and adolescent psychiatry of uludag university hospital within the previous year

Abstract

Introduction: Consultation-liaison psychiatry is a field of psychiatry which investigates associations among clinical medicine in general, different fields of specialties and psychic and psychosocial entities. This psychiatric discipline deals with diagnosis, treatment, follow-up of psychiatric, and psychosocial disorders associated with physical diseases. The objective of this study was to review causes of consultations requested from departments of child and adolescent mental health, and diseases (PAMHD), sociodemographic data of the cases, and treatment approaches related to these cases.Materials and Methods: Patient information related to the consultations requested from the department of child and adolescent psychiatry by the clinics of emergency medicine, and other clinics in the Uludag University, Faculty of Medicine (UUFM) between January 2012 and January 2013 were retrospectively screened.Results: PAMHD consultations were requested from 0.48% of the cases in the UUFM who referred to the outpatient clinics of pediatric emergency, and 3.25% of the inpatients aged less than18 years. A total of 275 cases (females, 51.5%; and males, 48.5%) with a mean age of 13.5 +/- 4.23 years were evaluated. Consultations were most often requested from the clinics of pediatric emergency (27%), pediatric hematology (12.5%), and pediatric nephrology (12.5%) in decreasing order of frequency. Of the cases, 7.6% had not received any psychiatric diagnosis. Psychiatric diagnoses were mostly adjustment disorder (26.2%), depressive disorder (20.7%), and anxiety disorder (15.3%). Medical treatment was administered to 36% of the evaluated cases.Conclusions: Our study reveals that psychiatric disorders, mainly adjustment disorders and depressions, are frequently seen in patients with physical diseases. Apparently, screening studies performed have revealed annual increases in the number of consultations evaluated. Outcomes of our study emphasized the merit of these consultation demands, and importance of collaboration between disciplines.