CLINICAL AND PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGICAL PRACTICE PATTERNS OF PSYCHIATRISTSIN ROUTINE PRACTICE

As part of the American Psychiatric Association's national Practice Re search Network (PRN), this pilot study tested a data collection instru ment designed to systematically characterize the sociodemographic and diagnostic characteristics of psychiatric patients and the specific tr eatments they received, including specific psychopharmacologic medicat ions, Ninety-five percent of the PRN members (148 of 156 psychiatrists ), who practice in a broad range of settings, completed a 21-page data collection instrument that generated detailed diagnostic, clinical, a nd treatment data on 290 psychiatric patients, Mood disorders constitu ted the most common principal DSM-IV diagnostic category, affecting 53 percent of the patients in this pilot study, The majority of patients had significant psychiatric and general medical cooccurring condition s; 20 percent of the patients had at least three DSM-IV Axis I mental disorders, Ninety percent of all patients in the sample received at le ast one psychopharmacologic medication, with each patient, on average, receiving 1.8 (SD=1.2). After adjustment for patients' diagnostic and clinical characteristics, the mean number of medications prescribed p er patient in this pilot study sample did not vary by health plan type or payment source. However, the combinations of treatments provided b y psychiatrists (i.e., psychotherapy and medications) did vary by heal th plan type and payment source.