PROVIDING PSYCHIATRIC BACKUP TO FAMILY PHYSICIANS BY TELEPHONE

Objective: To examine whether links between psychiatric services and f amily physicians can be strengthened and additional support provided f or family physicians if a psychiatrist is available by phone to respon d to clinical calls from family physicians Method: A psychiatrist, who visited 18 family physicians in 5 practices on a regular basis to pro vide clinical consultations, was available to provide telephone backup concerning mental health problems the family physicians encountered A ll calls received by the psychiatrist were documented and analysed at the end of a 12-month period. Results: Over the course of one year, 12 8 calls were received from the 5 practices. Fifty were considered urge nt while 78 involved more routine management or medication issues. Tel ephone advice enabled the family physicians to handle these cases more effectively, often reducing utilization of other mental health servic es and providing support that was not otherwise available. The average time spent per call was 8 minutes, which meant the psychiatrist was o nly spending 20 minutes per week on the phone responding to family phy sicians' requests. Conclusion: Providing telephone backup to family ph ysicians is a time-efficient and effective method of supporting family physicians and reducing utilization of mental health services. It is applicable to psychiatrists working in any clinical setting.