Ih. Vandvik, COLLABORATION BETWEEN CHILD-PSYCHIATRY AND PEDIATRICS - THE STATE OF THE RELATIONSHIP IN NORWAY, Acta paediatrica, 83(8), 1994, pp. 884-887
In Norway, the first paediatric department was founded in Oslo 100 yea
rs ago. The first child psychiatric department was opened in 1950. To
assess qualitative and quantitative aspects of child psychiatric liais
on work, questionnaires were sent to the heads of 25 paediatric depart
ments and 53 child psychiatric units. Scarce child psychiatric resourc
es were spent in paediatrics. The average score for satisfaction with
collaboration was moderate (5.5 on a 10-cm visual analogue scale) and
agreement between the parties was modest. Improvement will involve dev
elopment of a common language and a shared model for understanding the
psychosocial aspects of acute and chronic childhood illnesses. In-ser
vice training for paediatricians in child psychiatry and vice versa ma
y help. Both parties indicated a need for more training in consultatio
n/liaison and in multi-professional assessments and therapeutic interv
entions with children with physical illnesses.