We report a retrospective study of 59 patients for whom our university
hospital nursing service had required the use of lay sitters because
of the need for constant observation. Of 54 charts examined, 28 noted
a need for psychiatric consultation, mostly because of delirious state
s. Quality of care deficits discerned included (1) inadequate pharmaco
therapy of alcoholic and nonalcoholic delirium, (2) inadequate search
for treatable causes of delirium (thyroid, B-12, and folate deficienci
es), (3) insufficient awareness of persistent cognitive deficits, whic
h influence the patient's ability to care for himself or give informed
consent. The knowledge and skills deficits we found are not unique to
this hospital and reflect the failure of most graduate programs to re
inforce basic psychiatric teaching. The quality of care issues indicat
e that more serious consideration should be given to providing necessa
ry psychiatric training.