A preliminary study of staff perception of psychiatric services in generalhospitals

There has been increasing recognition of the importance of integrating phys ical and psychiatric cave under growing economic pressure. We conducted a s urvey of staff perception on psychiatric services in four general hospitals . The purpose of this study was to see differences among the staff in their recognition and expectation of the role of the psychiatric department and the need for psychiatric and other staff to work more closely together. Alt hough 81% of psychiatrists recognized their role in acute psychiatry, only 42.6% thought that acute psychiatry was the most important role of psychiat ry. Mooed disorders were recognized as a psychiatric category in 95.2% of p sychiatrists and 54.8% of nonpsychiatrist physicians. Overall satisfaction with psychiatric services in psychiatric and other staff were 54.0% and 68. 2%, respectively. Although 85.7% of psychiatrists answered that they suppor ted staff in other departments that have psychiatric or psychological probl ems, only 53.5% of those staff in other departments were satisfied with the ir support. Staff in other departments expected psychiatric staff to establ ish consultation hotlines and to visit other departments regularly. Our res ults suggest that there are discrepancies between psychiatric and other sta ff in their perception of psychiatric services, and it is our belief that t hose gaps must be bridged for better collaboration in general hospitals. (C ) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.